PICSPAM REACTION/RECAP: Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3 (Part 8 of 8)
WARNING: CONTAINS IMAGES AND DETAILS OF THE SHERLOCK SERIES 3 FINAL EPISODE. If you have not watched Sherlock Series 3's finale yet, this post is CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Live-Bloggish Picspam Reaction/Recap for Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT - "His Last Vow"
-"Sherlock, do we have a plan?" I like John. He gets right to the point.
-"...Sherlock." Hang on a second John, he's mind-palacing. He's slower at it than usual because he's trying to do it in stealth mode and not wave his arms around. Or he's gone 404, though really, I don't think Appledore being vaporware was enough of a shock to boggle him that badly.
-...Orrr maybe it is. There is some definite gears grinding in there.
-John walks away and Sherlock has this face, with what might be a hard swallow. Is it a face of reacting to John leaving? Is it a face of reacting to having to shut John out just then for whatever reason? Is it a face of reaction to something he's thought? Something's being reacted to there. *steeplefingers*
-It is a terribly unique looking building. It's probably a famous actual building somewhere in the UK and I'm an idiot for not recognizing it. I don't know if I'd want it after all, too many easy to see in windows.
-John's alone with Magnuson, and as far as I know, still has his gun. Just how far can Magnuson push John before he tips over the edge of 'can't kill someone who's not trying to kill someone else' resistance, I wonder?
-"I still don't understand."/"And there's the back of the t-shirt." *facepalm* (I kind of hope someone has actually made that shirt since.)
-"I just love your little soldier face. I'd like to punch it." Ooohooo hooo. I bet John would love that. Give him an excuse to punch back.
(John's "oh no you didn't!" face right there I think. Second variation, with a hint of "bring it on")
-"Bring it over here a minute." *chortles evilly* John's gonna mess you up.
-Love eye exchanges like this. John checking to see if punching Magnuson in the face is okay with whatever plan Sherlock has come up with and Sherlock... giving some kind of enigmatic look almost like regret? He either doesn't have a plan to mess up (which I doubt or he'd still be back there in the Joust room, trying to reboot) or he has a plan and it's not only inadvisable, it could hurt them both badly in some way? Not sure...
-Ooo, Sherlock just gave a nod. Magnuson's gonna get his butt kicked. Which I suppose in the long term won't help (unless he causes brain damage) but would be cathartic. Unless Sherlock's giving the nod to shooting Magnuson, which I would also be cool with at this point. However, either case isn't going to help their case when the *handwave* agents come around, if they aren't in on it. But they're already screwed if the agents and Mycroft aren't in on it, what with the charge of high treason, so punching Magnuson in the face is hardly going to make things worse at this point. ...unless that nod meant "Go over and let him punch you." ...eeep.
-"For Mary, bring me your face." Not sure what to make of John's look here, though it seems caught between "what the hell?" and something else that's a little adrift.
-I dunno about anyone else, but I just had a 'gunslinger showdown' musical cue go through my head at this particular formation.
-"Lean forward a bit and stick your face out." It's funny because Magnuson thinks John's not going to punch him back (unless...eep). Also, John's "oh really?" face.
-"Please?" Just punch him, John.
-Oh that lovely shift in John's expression, going into "you are already dead, you just don't know it yet" mode. Ooo.
-"Can I flick it?" Yeah, I'd laugh too, John. Meanwhile in the background, Sherlock is lurking in a... contemplative way? He's certainly not laughing, or looking directly at the confrontation. Hm.
-Magnuson's insistent on the flicking. At least he's getting consent of a sort, and not just going for the non-consensual licking? Though, really, I think Magnuson's goal in this confrontation is more aimed at demonstrating his 'ownership' of John to Sherlock (who is now more directly looking at the confrontation) than at John. And John's face is of course, as always, a thing to be treasured.
-Flicked him with his middle finger even. And John's answering head-bobble of 'Right, I let you do that, you are now one step closer to death.'
-And a second flick. Magnuson really has no clue how doomed he is right now. Or at least how doomed I hope he is. Because John's face is still looking at a dead man walking and Sherlock is now paying full attention.
-...Or at least it looked like he was. Now he seems to be contemplating something he's already regretting, again. Eeeeep.
-Magnuson really likes the sound of his own voice. Or he's taking John's "I don't understand" comments as a cue to explain to John how his ownership of Mary means he owns John, rather than explaining the more salient point of "How can you have controlled all these people with no proof", but that would lead to further soapboxing about the state of tabloid media, and there's less than ten minutes left and MAGNUSON NEEDS TO DIE SOON PLEASE.
-He keeps flicking John, and Sherlock is definitely staring at Magnuson now and looking disgusted, with a hint of Bart's rooftop showdown face in there. Which could mean he's just disgusted by Magnuson (as is entirely reasonable) or he's about to do something horribly inadvisable like throw himself off another rooftop. Did- Hm. Did John check his jacket for his gun when Sherlock handed it to him? Or might Sherlock have taken it from John's coat pocket...? O.O
-"I know where to find people who hate her." Oooohooohooo, and that was essentially a direct threat on Mary's life, and at the moment, the baby's life. Yeah, Magnuson's not getting off this terrace unbloodied. Whether he gets punched, shot or headbutted, he's going down.
-"All in my mind palace. All of it." And so no reason at all to worry about someone else getting control of it if his brain is mashed into a fine paste on the cobblestones. Oh yes, there's going to be a murder here tonight.
-"I could phone them right now, and tear your whole life down. And I will, unless you let me flick your face." It sounds hilarious (I mean really, face-flicking?) except it's him demonstrating his power over John to Sherlock. Which, given the facial expressions of imminent doom and the note of increased tension in the soundtrack, is going to backfire rather completely.
-"This is what I do to people, this is what I do to whole countries, just because I know." I guess he did kind of answered the more salient question there as well about controlling people with no hard proof. Knowing the secret that wants keeping as well as who would bring the most damage by finding out. By threatening him with handing Mary's info over to her old enemies and endangering both her and the baby. Have I mentioned lately that Magnuson needs to die? He really really needs to die.
-"Come on, for Mary, keep it open." FFFFF. Just shoot him. Somebody. Please?
-"Sherlock?"/"Let him. I'm sorry, just let him." John's "Sherlock?" is very 'please tell me I can punch this asshole now' and Sherlock's statement is very good at hiding the tremendous plans he has to fix all this. Which he totally has. Tremendous tremendous plans. He's just doing really well at hiding them; it's almost like he doesn't have a plan at all and is sickened by what's going on and feels totally helpless to do anything about it. Eeeep.
-It's looks like this that make me more and more certain Magnuson is going to die in the next five minutes or less.
-"It's difficult isn't it? Janine managed it once. She makes the funniest noises." Crap, he had Janine too after all?? Was Janine then his plant to keep tabs on Mary, much as Mary was friends with Janine to get access to Magnuson, and that whole selling the fake story to the other papers a whole 'make Magnuson look like someone a mere employee can both get the advantage of news-wise and also one who can simply quit and walk away after working that closely to him in his organisation' scheme? Crap. Poor Janine. Being used or manipulated by so many people in her life. I hope Magnuson leaves her alone in her Sussex cottage. If I were her, I'd keep the bees and train them to attack. I also have to say something about the posturing going on in that scene. Magnuson is using his height difference from John in attempt to make John appear and feel smaller and less able to defend himself, hypothetically. However the look on John's face makes me fairly sure this posturing is not working on John at all, and it's in fact only making John very aware that he has a straight line shot at Magnuson's jugular vein.
-Oh crap, here comes the chopper. Hope it's someone in on the long game and not just some MI6 goons out to drag Sherlock and John to jail for treason. That would make a hell of a cliffhanger though. *is nervous*
-Hunh. Do they send regular police Armed Response units in to pick up top secret laptops and people who've possibly committed treason? That seems weird... did Mycroft send Lestrade and his 'all the police' backup to do the extraction? Also weird. And how did the goons with rifles on the ground get in there when the helicopter hasn't landed yet? I suppose they might have been let in by goons at the main gate in an Armed Response Vehicle since Magnuson's so confident he's not going to bear any culpability for stealing the laptop (except his fingerprints are totally all over it and any others are probably badly smudged after that shuddersome laptop stroking business).
-"Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, stand away from that man." HI MYCROFT!!!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE IN ON ALL THIS? OR ARE TELLING JOHN AND SHERLOCK TO STAND CLEAR SO YOU CAN HIT MAGNUSON WITH A MISSILE? Though that's not quite Mycroft's style, he'd rather get Magnuson disconnected from any access to the outside world in a tiny room and have a series of in-depth percussive conversations with him to extract information. Go, Mycroft! Juice him like a lemon! \o/
-John's got a bit of the same face he had on the bomb train, only without the mustache this time. Oh. It's all going to be fine John. It totally is. *pats reassuringly*
-"Here we go Mr Holmes!" Damn. Too late to shoot him. Even if Mycroft's in on it, he'll want Magnuson alive for interrogation. Still, not much to lose at this point by punching him square in the teeth.
-"To clarify: Appledore's vaults only exist in your mind. Nowhere else." OH CRAP, HERE WE GO! Because if Sherlock is wired or in some way recording (or is shouting loud enough to be heard over the chopper, which I doubt), he's just made the point that in essence, killing Magnuson will erase Appledore's vaults (though, really, if Magnuson hasn't got a sequence of automated and very detailed emails written from his memory room info to go out to everyone he's controlling's worst possible person to find out their secret, all set up to go out from a server that's otherwise entirely unconnected to him upon word of his death appearing in online news sources he trusts not to misreport (or on lack of holdback signal that only he sends once per set period), then he is truly an idiot)) to John, Mycroft, and anyone else listening. *crosses fingers for Magnuson being an idiot*
-"They're not real. They never have been." *facepalm* Okay, Magnuson is an idiot. Like I mentioned earlier, overconfidence can be lethal.
-Oh yes. Magnuson is about to go squish. Somehow.
-"It's fine, they're harmless!" And the Special Firearms Officers start aiming. Hopefully at Magnuson, because really, 'step away from the man' just makes two target groupings, and who the SFOs have been ordered to aim for is not yet set in stone. And also there's the whole 'accidentally shot during raid' scenario, though I'd like to think that's a desperation ploy if things go really sideways, because that leaves Sherlock, John and a lot of police officers out to dry. [Oooooohhhh, just had another run-through of that scene while re-cueing and caught the background audio. "Target is not armed." Target. Singular. They were there to get Magnuson. Oopsie! Probably for the best he doesn't get a chance to influence anyone else regardless, but still] Also... harmless, Magnuson? Really? Harmless? *reaches through screen and smacks Magnuson in the head* Moron.
-"Sherlock, what do we do!?" *glee* Because all through this, John is still following Sherlock's lead and trusting that there's a plan of some kind and *waves hands around and burbles about trust*
-"Nothing! There's nothing to be done!" Not true. Someone can kill Magnuson. Aaaaaany second now. Please?
-"I'm not a villain, I have no evil plan. I'm a businessman." HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Sure. Destroying or controlling other people's lives can be a common business practice. Evil never thinks of itself as evil after all. (Still not quite making out that tie, is it paisley or.... hehe. Heh. QUOTATION MARKS. It's a quotation mark tie. I was thrown because I forgot that single quotes have been more commonly used for punctuation until recent decades in the UK for designating speaking. And looking at it again, it's quotation marks within quotation marks. The truth within the lie? Vice versa? Anyway, the Sherlock Universe tradition of character-themed showdown ties continues. \o/)
-"I'm acquiring assets, you happen to be one of them." Oh, Sherlock's look at John here. Yeah, this is Sherlock reaching his tipping point. No one is allowed to own John and Mary, ever. And again, and always, Sherlock's vow.
-"No chance for you to be a hero this time, Mr Holmes." Hehe. Just wait for it.
(I'd also like to take a brief moment to point out John's blurry little side-eye-roll towards Magnuson in this cap. Is it not glorious?)
-Seriously, at this point story-structure-wise, Sherlock has to shoot him. Having Mycroft swoop in and arrest Magnuson would be satisfying, yes, but Sherlock needs to take a direct action to resolve this, even if it's going to get him in even more trouble. Having big brother resolve everything would be far too pyrrhic, particularly with the intensity of facial expressions Sherlock's had going on here. Magnuson's about to get shot, probably in the head just to be sure, by Sherlock Holmes, in front of an ass-ton of cops and agents. (John could do it, yeah, but Sherlock will tend to take that action away from him (and also, John hasn't been the one with the intense close-ups) to let him and Mary be together to raise their family rather than having John go to jail for murder. Also again, because Vow (even though, like I've said before, making it an out-loud vow has not made Sherlock's perspective of his role in his friends lives and his need to be there for them any less than if he'd never said a word about it at all. Because Holmeses and Watsons are Holmeses and Watsons. *SMISHES ALL OF THEM*)) So, Sherlock will very undeniably shoot Magnuson, at which point Mycroft will facepalm his helicopter headphones clean off his head and have to find a way to clear up his little brother's mess. Again.
-(Also the pointed mention of John's gun earlier has put it on the wall and there is no way that, between John and Sherlock and this situation, that that thing won't be going off. Y'know. Just saying.)
-"Oh, do your research." Here we go!
-It's rather difficult to see a black-sleeved arm dipping into a dark blue pocket for a weapon, but evidently Sherlock did leave John's gun in his jacket. Which in retrospect he would have had to or John would have noticed the lack of two pounds of metal. *nods* Which he has to notice now, and isn't saying a damn thing about it. John Watson, backing Sherlock's play.
-"I'm not a hero." He is a dramatic sonofabitch though.
-"I'm a high-functioning sociopath." Hahahahah. And Bang?
-"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" *BANG* Yep. THANK YOU. Also, I do believe that that Die Hard marathon John made Sherlock sit through at some point has just paid off.
I'd just like to state for the record that while Lars Mikkelsen has been brilliant playing Magnuson (Magnuson is possibly the character that has triggered the deepest and most genuine revulsion I have ever had for a character in a TV series, and that is truly a sign of acting talent) I am quite glad the character won't be alive for Series Four.
-Sherlock wisely dropping the gun before the armed response officers can over-react, though their relative lack of immediate return fire and the generally calm announcement on the helicopter radio of 'man down' makes me pretty certain they were never there to arrest Sherlock and John. [And the re-cueing re-listen of the earlier scene with the singular target corroborates that.]
-Oh yes, let's play with light and shadow, why not. Lovely.
-"Get away from me John, stay well back!" *flails more than a little*
-"Christ! Sherlock!" Meanwhile, John's in a state of coping with going from he and his wife being owned by Magnuson and used against Sherlock and also about to be picked up and imprisoned for life for treason, to having watched his best friend flat-out murder a dude to stop him from being a threat to John and Mary and making John unhappy... and who is probably still about to be picked up and imprisoned for life for treason or several year for accessory to murder (John can pretty much write off ever getting his gun back too, incidentally) or something, for all he knows. Bit of shock.
-"DON'T FIRE! DO NOT FIRE ON SHERLOCK HOLMES!" Nice going, Sherlock, you'll give Mycroft an ulcer at this rate.
-And hello, Armed Response Officer from the opening credit montage.
-"Oh Christ, Sherlock!" LOOK AT HIS FAAAAACE!!! Everything is still processing for John, but that face, dear god.
-"Give my love to Mary. Tell her she's safe now." *flailing* TEAM AWESOME! \o/ And I'm sure Mycroft will be able to find some way to get Sherlock out of having to go to jail for murder by retconning Magnuson's murder as a special op for MI6, since Magnuson was definitely a threat to the UK internally and externally. And really, Magnuson just plain needed to die. *nods*
-Oh and more of John's wonderful face, because there's that brief passing expression of relief that that hold over Mary is gone and yet still he's dealing with that feeling of panic that Sherlock just indisputably murdered one of the most powerful people in Britain and is, as far as John knows, entirely fucked for the rest of his life.
-Well the camera and the soundtrack certainly think Sherlock's a hero. Not that I'm arguing with them.
-Oh John.
-Just *waves vaguely at the screen* Gah.
-To quote Molly Hooper: "You look sad when you think he can’t see you." Blithe heroic one-liners to John, and freaking out underneath. I'm thinking now that maybe murdering Magnuson wasn't part of the original plan, Mycroft involvement or not. I'm almost thinking Sherlock wasn't assuming he wouldn't be getting shot by the police at this point, but that he felt it was worth risking regardless. *flails*
-"Oh Sherlock. What have you done?" Yeah, definitely not part of Mycroft's plan. But it can totally be retconned! You're Mycroft Holmes, you can ping that MI6 job you were offering Sherlock, call in a few favours, keep him out of jail, and then you've got six months to figure out how to extract him from that op while he's still alive. Sure! Totally!
-AWWWWWWWW. Because in Mycroft's view, Sherlock is always going to be his little brother, needing rescued from himself. Aw.
-"As my colleague is fond of remarking this country sometimes needs a blunt instrument. Equally, it sometimes needs a dagger; a scalpel wielded with precision and without remorse." Ahahaha, yep. RETCON LIKE THE WIND, MYCROFT!!
-"If this is some expression of familial sentiment-" I would just like to record for posterity, Mycroft's truly epic eyeroll. Blurry though it may be.
-"I'm not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one." Waaait, what? ... are they adding in a Sherringford Holmes? Well, I suppose if you're going to canonize some Holmesian fanon, it might as well be Baring-Gould's fanon, since as I recall he was trying to retcon or patch all the holes and inconsistencies in the original stories.
-(On a side note, Hey! If they can add in a third Holmes sibling, maybe they can keep Mary alive too! Her and John can have herds of kids! Between the Watsons and Sherlock, they can train them all from birth to be badass ninja assassins with incredible investigative and analytical ability! Ha ha. Ha. No. Moffat and Gatiss would have to jump every shark for that. On the up side or as up a side as the situation can have, I really doubt Mary's going to die from a vaguely mentioned Victorian female disease, and more likely from some part of her past catching up with her with monumental ow.)
-Mentioning 'the other one' got Mr Government Guy to hush up though. Hm. The other one. Setup for Series Four?
-"There is no prison in which we could incarcerate Sherlock without causing a riot on a daily basis." True, also he'd be targeted by everyone he put in there. Really, if determined, Sherlock could probably start riots damn near anywhere if he was determined or drunk (see also the stag night pub crawl) but I get the feeling he wouldn't be trying to at all if he was put in prison for this. Or resisting, or kicking up any fuss at all, which is even more distressing.
-"The alternative however would require your approval." OH HI THERE CAPTAIN ADELAIDE! I MEAN, LADY SMALLWOOD! HAVE YOU HEARD THAT THE SLIMEBALL WHO WAS BLACKMAILING YOU AND DROVE YOUR HUSBAND TO SUICIDE AND LICKED YOUR FACE IS DEAD NOW? \o/ Well! No problem at all then. Although I suppose she could get a bit nervous that technically he was working on her case when this happened and may want to throw Sherlock under a metaphorical bus instead of that connection coming to light, but Magnuson's little reading on her would seem to imply that she's got a sense of honour, and other than her husband's past relationship is relatively unimpeachable.
-"Hardly merciful Mr Holmes."/"Regrettably Lady Smallwood, my brother is a murderer." Yeeeaaaah, that's going to have to be the way it is if any of it's going to fly to keep Sherlock from a murder charge. Especially if Mycroft is known to be involved in the process, because being seen to get his brother off the charges with only a slap on the wrist would put Mycroft's position in a considerable bit of jeopardy, possibly as much as being influenced by Magnuson would have.
-Heh. I suspect this next scene will explain the increased fascination with airports I've noticed via fandom osmosis. I'd thought it might be some sort of Cabin Pressure influence but apparently not.
-No armed guards, that's probably a good sign. Sherlock's stance is a bit hand-cuffy though which would be less of a good sign. Very particularly less of a good sign as he hasn't picked them and is standing there docilely in acceptance of whatever happens next. Eep.
-Oh, god, it's an airport goodbye before Mycroft ships Sherlock off on that 6-month certain death MI6 mission, isn't it. Eeeeeek.
-"You will look after him for me won't you?" I don't know what my face just did, but it felt like there may have been an eyebrow collision. Also flailing. Team Awesome. *flaaaaaail*
-*hands flapping everywhere* AWWWWWW.
-"Don't worry, I'll keep him in trouble."/"That's my girl." Heheeheheh and flail and aww and AWW and just. More flailing. Aww.
-Ah, no handcuffs. Or he's picked them. I'm feeling reassured already.
-I can't even describe the involuntary little noise I made seeing the two of them standing there all stoic and sad.
-"Since this is likely the last conversation I'll have with John Watson-"/John: *breathes*/"-would you mind if we took a moment?" OWWWWWWW. Shit. Well. Yeah. Not like John hasn't had one of those before. Different context, no splat at the bottom, but knowing it's essentially a suicide mission (which Sherlock will of course be coming back from because they're definitely not going to be killing him off, and I have a feeling he's not going to be going to far, otherwise they'll end up starting Series Four where they started Series Three, with Sherlock running around on a botched op and needing an extraction, but still. John's been here before, and the emotional impact is real to them, and they can't be sure Sherlock's coming back because they don't know their lives are probably the most popular thing on the BBC and both of them are pretty darned death-proof right now. And there's that little breath, like a punch in the ribs. So OWW.
-Mycroft's face does a subtle yet hilarious thing that doesn't cap well. He still doesn't see the point of emotional attachment, or still finds it utterly alien that Sherlock's formed one. (Seriously, Mum and Dad Holmes are awesome, so what in hell happened to the boys as kids that they both (but particularly Mycroft) have this issue with emotional attachment? *ponders 'the other one'*)
-Hm. Mary's going off with Mycroft.... I wonder if there's any interesting conversations they might have about all this, and how much Mycroft knows About Mary now...
-Oh look, John's face has come to kill me again. Same stance and expression as after he shot the cabbie and was waiting for Sherlock by the police cars. Smiley non-smile, face squishing horizontally, hands clasped behind back, parade rest. I'd almost think he's up to something.
-"William Sherlock Scott Holmes." ....Sorry, what? Wait... This is more Baring-Gould fanon sneaking in, isn't it? Still though, the only reason the name Sherlock isn't a common name now is that it has the association wit Sherlock Holmes, and most parents don't want to saddle their child with that. It'd be an older name, like Alfred or Enid or Hortescue, but it'd still be around. As mostly middle names, so okay, yeah, fine, he goes by his middle name because it goes with the cheekbones and the turned up collar.
-Meanwhile, John's face hasn't heard of any of the ACD fanon that goes back decades and is adorably befuddled.
-"That's the whole of it. If you're looking for baby names." HA! *FLAIL* Awwwww... And after the rigamarole he went through getting John's middle name, it's also kind of a gesture of... something. Aw.
-"We've had a scan, we're pretty sure it's a girl."/"Oh." Face. Oh god face.
And the monolithic ACD-influenced ow is still looming in the background, I can hear it creaking, but it can sod off for a while because it's not happening now. (...it's not. Is it? Oh god.)
-Oh god, all the awkward.
"...yeah." Awwww.
-"Y'know, honestly I can't think of a single thing to say."/"No, neither can I." Awwwww. And eye contact is a bit much to maintain too. Awww. *flail*
Of course if after this, Mycroft turns around and pulls a fast one so Sherlock doesn't actually leave (like say if he assigns his brother to watch over a dangerous international assassin living covertly on British soil), and after the fall and the train bomb, John's never going to be able to say goodbye to Sherlock without thinking it's all a trick, and I'm going to have to have yet another discussion with the Holmes boys about crying wolf.
-"The game is over."/"The game is never over, John." Not sure if John's trying to call Sherlock's bluff about leaving or trying to get Sherlock to realize his future's seeming pretty screwed now. Either way, it kind of really freaking hurts.
-See. Killing me with his face.
-"But there may be some new players now. It's okay." He's reeeally not doing well at keeping eye contact.
-"The east wind takes us all in the end." GAAAAAAH. What does that mean? It's probably a quote from something I really should recognize. I mean other than ACD's reference in the original "His Last Bow" story where it was a reference to the Second World War.
-Ooo, we're getting an in-story explanation. "Seeks out the unworthy and plucks them from the Earth. That was generally me." Oooh! Mycroft Holmes, you were a mean little turnip! Still are, except now you're a mean big turnip with, like, operatives and firearms squads and stuff. And hopefully slightly more consideration for your little brother's worth.
-Oh, wait, the east wind is a biblical reference. The plagues of Egypt were brought in on the east wind. Right. Sorted.
-"Nice."/"He was a rubbish big brother." Hee!
-Awwwwwwwww.
-"Some undercover work in Eastern Europe."/"For how long?"/"Six months, my brother estimates." *winces* Yeah, that's the death sentence job Mycroft was warning him off of. It's kind of cheating to guess based on series dynamics and filming considerations, but I really can't see them starting Series Four with Sherlock on another op, so something's gotta happen here.... *headdesk* right. Moriarty's going to pop up and Sherlock will get pulled back in from the field for that immediately. Darn spoilers.
-"He's never wrong." And Sherlock isn't telling John that the six months is how long 'til Mycroft figures Sherlock will be killed, because on one hand he hasn't learned a damned thing in all this about telling John the truth, but on the other hand, he's trying to make John feel better by not spelling it all out and so making it seem less like certain death, buuuut I don't know if John's going to buy that either.
-"And then what?"/"...Who knows." Sherlock Holmes, when you are talking to John about things that are actually distressing to you, you are an absolutely lousy liar.
-Yeah, I'd say John's pretty sure what's going to happen before six months is up. Gritting his teeth to keep from saying anything and letting Sherlock keep up the facade so he can keep up his own facade and maybe once the baby's born and Mary's up for some fieldwork, leaving Baby Girl Watson with Mum and Dad Holmes for a few days and going off to kick some ass and extract Sherlock themselves. and make no plans to rescue Sherlock at all. Nope.
-But faces like this are definitely helping the distraction factor.
(Seriously, where did his lips go?? XD)
-"John, there's something I should say. Uh. I've meant to say always and I never have." Reeeeally not helping the 'oh it's just a six-month cake-walk' facade there Sherlock.
-"Since it's unlikely we'll ever meet again I might as well say it now." Whoops. Facade go busting all to smash right there. Of course it's all going to be moot because Sherlock's not going to end up going on this op due to a sudden case of zombie!Moriarty, but at the same time, they don't know that and emotionally, this is hell for both of them. John's had to face losing Sherlock before, and this has to be hitting that barely healed over gaping black pit of ow. Sherlock hasn't truly lost John before. He's faced John being endangered, he's faced John being righteously pissed off at him and not really talking to him, but he hasn't lost John. Part of Sherlock's solace here has got to be that he's leaving his best friend behind, safe, with a partner and a family who will care for him and who he thinks understands him. But that's not much solace all things considered. The ow is deep in this one.
-He's blinking. He's just blinking. HOW CAN HE HURT SO BAD WITH BLINKING?
-"Sherlock is actually a girl's name." AHAHAHAAHAHAH. And yet ow. Because Sherlock is absolutely a boy's name (or a last name) but he wants John to be able to name his baby after him to have something to carry on. OW.
-Oh John's uncappable snicker.
-I don't know what this face is, but it's adorable. Like a pleased turtle.
-This face also defies description. That brow in particular is amazing. But then you mix it with the amused/pained "It's not" and the contributory preliminary snuffling of the incredibly talented Watson nose and it becomes one of the saddest things ever.
-"We're not naming our daughter after you."/"I think it could work." Now that they've added some insulating walls of silly and humor, the eye contact isn't as hard to bear.
-"To the very best of times, John." Don't mind me, I'll just be flailing over here for a bit. Because John's looking at Sherlock's hand like he doesn't know what to do with it and certainly doesn't want to shake it because it will mean goodbye, and his own hand is clenched at his side going nope, not gonna shake, and just *flail*
-And then shake. Because it can't be put off forever. Oh boys. It's all going to be moot in a minute here, but still *flail*
-John's face is killing me again some more.
-And striding off and not looking back, because he's pretty much got to shutter himself off if he's going to make it onto the plane without being restrained or drugged unconscious. That popped up collar's looking a lot like a wall right now.
Oh hi Mary and Mycroft standing within murmuring distance of each other. Somehow I doubt you've been exchanging recipes for bundt cake.
-Even the side of John's face is killing me now.
-Gaaaaaaaah. Sherlock's even sitting on the far side of the plane and looking out the window he won't be able to see them from. Because he just can't, with the- *waves hands around expressively* Gaaaaaaaaaaah.
-Randomly, damn, did Mycroft loan John and Mary one of his cars, or was there a 'thanks for getting rid of the world's biggest asshole' prize John and Mary got the benefit of? That's certainly not the Audi hatchback they started the episode with. *checks their arrival* Nope, it's a Mycroft car. The Audi probably doesn't have high enough clearance to be on the tarmac or something. *handwaves*
-Gaaaaah, still steadfastly looking out the wrong window. I suppose his other options would be to close the shutter or just hide in the loo, but that'd be a little uncouth, and also it's also his last chance to look at Britain, as far as he knows at this point. So he's looking at it out the wrong window so he doesn't see the parts of it that are the hardest to leave behind and lose his grip in front of his brother and the... random MI6 dude, or whoever that was. His new handler? Unimportant. It'll all be moot in a minute. Still. Gaaaaah.
-*theme song starts up* No, wait. He's not supposed to leave, he's gotta come back because of Moriarty. Where's Moriarty? *static* Oh good. Moffatt and Gatiss are just being trolls again.
-Oh, Moriarty's going to be interrupting a football match, this is definitely a crisis.
-Oh it's even worse, he's interrupting Lestrade's football match he's watching in his favourite pub (*points at windows in background* Same pub he met Anderson in to hear about his "Sherlock's alive" theory in the prequel). Heads are gonna roll.
-"Did ya miss me?" And I do believe this is Lestrade's "Oh shit" face.
-Mrs Hudson seems to have the same reaction to people returning fro the dead no matter who they are.
Also, Sherlock's just left on his 'six month' mission, John and Mary are living elsewhere, and Mrs Hudson has gone back into 'keeping 221B tidy and otherwise leaving all of Sherlock's stuff exactly where it was, just in case' mode. Awwwwww Mrs Hudson. *smishes*
-Oh god, poor Molly! The return of a psycho ex is never good, and this one's come back from the dead and taken over the television. D-:
-"How is this possible?" Oooo. Cool. Now see, if I didn't know it was Moriarty (and his shadow in the static hadn't been so distinctive, and the accent was different) this little bit with Lady Smallwood would have me freaking right out about this being Magnuson's dead man info bomb, going out live on all broadcast channels. I suppose it still could be if he co-opted Moriarty's image and got him to record something at some time before the roof, but why would Magnuson do that? I don't doubt he and Moriarty would have been at the very least aware of each other though. One big happy spider-shark social strata.
-"Has the Prime Minister been told? And Mycroft?" Heh heh heh. Good to know their 'contact in case of crisis' list is so short. Though I suppose Mycroft is the ultimate branching point of any emergency phone tree. I am finding myself more intrigued by Lady Smallwood though, and kind of hoping she'll pop up again in some capacity next series. We don't get to see much of what any Mycroft actually does, and it would be kind of cool to see more of this nebulous power grouping.
-"But that's not possible. That is simply not possible!" Heheh. Not often you get to see Mycroft get caught flat-footed by someone who isn't his brother.
-Oh hi John and Mary and the airport. How convenient you're all still here. "What's happened?" And always ready to kick some ass. Good Watsons.
-"It's your brother." ...had a passing thought there about this maybe being 'the other one', and 'the other one' being Moriarty, but naaaaaaaaah. Moffat and Gatiss are too intensely ACD fanboy devoted to do something like that unlike other shows which could be named.
Sherlock's face has gone twelve again. Aw.
-"How's the exile going?"/"I've only been gone four minutes!" Hee! And also aw, because you can bet he's counted every second of those minutes.
-"Well I certainly hope you've learned your lesson." AHAHAHAH, yes I knew it was coming but I still just now did victory arms hard enough to hyper-extend an elbow and threaten a lamp. And of course Mycroft's in full-on suave and unflappable mode, despite being caught by surprise, so it will seem like this was all part of his plan all along... or maybe it was... heh. Heheh. I mean, Mycroft has to have gotten enough footage of Moriarty mouthing off in his cell when he had him at the end of Hound to make a simple recording. Taking over broadcasts, Mycroft has access to all the CCTV's, why not have access to a way to break in to all broadcasts? Heh. And what better way of keeping his little brother home from a suicide mission than faking a crisis at home only he can deal with? Heh heh heh. And I'm sure he could also arrange some minimal 'Moriarty' activity for Sherlock to thwart, and then find the 'real' person behind the recording was a missed minion of Moriarty, or Sebastian Moran, who as far as we know was in custody and could very easily be manipulated into thinking he'd gotten free to get up to some other nasty business. All to keep Sherlock home and safe. Mycroft would do anything to save his little brother after all... hehe. Well. It's probably not that at all, as I have this terrible habit of assuming Mycroft is more powerful and devious than he seems to be, but it makes for a pleasing headcanon until the truth comes out. Personally, I thought Moriarty's death looked fairly simple to fake (blank in the gun (would still probably mess up his mouth a bit at that range though) and a squib and blood pack at the back of the collar. Unless someone actually got Moriarty's corpse during the Flying Sherlock circus act (and if they had, I don't think Mycroft or anyone else would be taking this very seriously), Moriarty might actually be alive. I don't know though.
-"As it turns out, you're needed."/"Oh for god's sake, make up your mind." Heee! Let's take another trip on the emotional roller coaster! Wheee!!! \o/
-HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that could be done by anyone, up to and including Moriarty's 10 year old cousin. I've seen better gifs made in the 1990s. Still, someone who can interrupt all broadcast channels could be a threat (or at least is attending uni.) And, of course, any excuse to keep Sherlock from the mission of doom.
-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And most people who've been watching the news over the past two years will actually recognize him since that whole court thing exonerating Sherlock and proving Richard Brook was fake went through just a few months ago with a big splash.
-"But he's dead. I mean you told me he was dead. Moriarty."/"Absolutely. Blew his own brains out." Well there's part of what Sherlock eventually did tell John about what happened on the roof. But really, did anyone actually get the body? Was there an autopsy? Personally right now, with only that little gif as proof, I'd say he is actually dead, and Mycroft someone is using him as a name to conjure with. On the up side, Mary's there to help the boys out with it this time. TEAM AWESOME FTW! \o/ On the down side.... *GIANT MONOLITH OF ACD-INFLUENCED OW LOOMS AND CREAKS MENACINGLY* ...oh my god... D-:
-"Well if he is, he'd better wrap up warm. There's an East Wind coming." *VERBAL KEYMASHING AND VICTORY ARMS EVERYWHERE* OKAY, I knew Sherlock wasn't leaving and all that, but turning the East Wind quote around is MADE OF SPARKLY BADASSNESS. \o/
-Announcer: "Now the thing is with Sherlock, you'll have to watch to the very end of the credits or you'll miss something." I usually watch the credits anyway, but thanks for the heads' up. After this many month, I have several recordings and purchased versions of this, including the one I bought from iTunes and the one on the DVD I bought, so guaranteed it'll be on at least one of them. It's good to have options. (*peers at credits* Magnussen! I knew I was probably spelling it wrong. Not going back and changing it now though.)
-...Which is good, because the recording I was watching there is missing it. Or rather has the sound of Moriarty saying "Miss me" and blowing a raspberry being played over a trailer for something involving swords and horses. *switches* Ah. It's not a raspberry, it's static. He certainly doesn't seem too thrilled to be back. Maybe it wasn't his idea... And I'm not sure if it's just me and my 'faked death' idea, but his voice seems a little rougher than before... damaged? Ooooo. *ponders*
SO. It took me from mid-January to mid September to watch a two hour TV program, (which does have the auxiliary benefit of reducing my subjective wait time for the next Series by 9 months, so that's a plus), but now it's done! Woohoo! \o/
The result is all this stuff *gestures back over eight parts* 54k words of babble and over a thousand caps. I'm now going to edit, code, break into chunks and post this, and then over the next while I'll probably be all over this fandom like a disease, checking out things I haven't looked at due to spoilers, so if you get a comment from me on something ancient, that's why. If there's anything out there that's happened in the fandom since January that you think I might like to see, please link it below.
Also, please play nice in the comments. I try to keep these posts positive and I understand that certain characters in this episode can be seen as divisive in the fandom, and everyone is certainly allowed to hold their own opinions, but please, no fighting. This is a place of squee. :-)
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR OR ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES OR SERIES' OF SHERLOCK)
Live-Bloggish Picspam Reaction/Recap for Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT - "His Last Vow"
-"Sherlock, do we have a plan?" I like John. He gets right to the point.
-"...Sherlock." Hang on a second John, he's mind-palacing. He's slower at it than usual because he's trying to do it in stealth mode and not wave his arms around. Or he's gone 404, though really, I don't think Appledore being vaporware was enough of a shock to boggle him that badly.
-...Orrr maybe it is. There is some definite gears grinding in there.
-John walks away and Sherlock has this face, with what might be a hard swallow. Is it a face of reacting to John leaving? Is it a face of reacting to having to shut John out just then for whatever reason? Is it a face of reaction to something he's thought? Something's being reacted to there. *steeplefingers*
-It is a terribly unique looking building. It's probably a famous actual building somewhere in the UK and I'm an idiot for not recognizing it. I don't know if I'd want it after all, too many easy to see in windows.
-John's alone with Magnuson, and as far as I know, still has his gun. Just how far can Magnuson push John before he tips over the edge of 'can't kill someone who's not trying to kill someone else' resistance, I wonder?
-"I still don't understand."/"And there's the back of the t-shirt." *facepalm* (I kind of hope someone has actually made that shirt since.)
-"I just love your little soldier face. I'd like to punch it." Ooohooo hooo. I bet John would love that. Give him an excuse to punch back.
(John's "oh no you didn't!" face right there I think. Second variation, with a hint of "bring it on")
-"Bring it over here a minute." *chortles evilly* John's gonna mess you up.
-Love eye exchanges like this. John checking to see if punching Magnuson in the face is okay with whatever plan Sherlock has come up with and Sherlock... giving some kind of enigmatic look almost like regret? He either doesn't have a plan to mess up (which I doubt or he'd still be back there in the Joust room, trying to reboot) or he has a plan and it's not only inadvisable, it could hurt them both badly in some way? Not sure...
-Ooo, Sherlock just gave a nod. Magnuson's gonna get his butt kicked. Which I suppose in the long term won't help (unless he causes brain damage) but would be cathartic. Unless Sherlock's giving the nod to shooting Magnuson, which I would also be cool with at this point. However, either case isn't going to help their case when the *handwave* agents come around, if they aren't in on it. But they're already screwed if the agents and Mycroft aren't in on it, what with the charge of high treason, so punching Magnuson in the face is hardly going to make things worse at this point. ...unless that nod meant "Go over and let him punch you." ...eeep.
-"For Mary, bring me your face." Not sure what to make of John's look here, though it seems caught between "what the hell?" and something else that's a little adrift.
-I dunno about anyone else, but I just had a 'gunslinger showdown' musical cue go through my head at this particular formation.
-"Lean forward a bit and stick your face out." It's funny because Magnuson thinks John's not going to punch him back (unless...eep). Also, John's "oh really?" face.
-"Please?" Just punch him, John.
-Oh that lovely shift in John's expression, going into "you are already dead, you just don't know it yet" mode. Ooo.
-"Can I flick it?" Yeah, I'd laugh too, John. Meanwhile in the background, Sherlock is lurking in a... contemplative way? He's certainly not laughing, or looking directly at the confrontation. Hm.
-Magnuson's insistent on the flicking. At least he's getting consent of a sort, and not just going for the non-consensual licking? Though, really, I think Magnuson's goal in this confrontation is more aimed at demonstrating his 'ownership' of John to Sherlock (who is now more directly looking at the confrontation) than at John. And John's face is of course, as always, a thing to be treasured.
-Flicked him with his middle finger even. And John's answering head-bobble of 'Right, I let you do that, you are now one step closer to death.'
-And a second flick. Magnuson really has no clue how doomed he is right now. Or at least how doomed I hope he is. Because John's face is still looking at a dead man walking and Sherlock is now paying full attention.
-...Or at least it looked like he was. Now he seems to be contemplating something he's already regretting, again. Eeeeep.
-Magnuson really likes the sound of his own voice. Or he's taking John's "I don't understand" comments as a cue to explain to John how his ownership of Mary means he owns John, rather than explaining the more salient point of "How can you have controlled all these people with no proof", but that would lead to further soapboxing about the state of tabloid media, and there's less than ten minutes left and MAGNUSON NEEDS TO DIE SOON PLEASE.
-He keeps flicking John, and Sherlock is definitely staring at Magnuson now and looking disgusted, with a hint of Bart's rooftop showdown face in there. Which could mean he's just disgusted by Magnuson (as is entirely reasonable) or he's about to do something horribly inadvisable like throw himself off another rooftop. Did- Hm. Did John check his jacket for his gun when Sherlock handed it to him? Or might Sherlock have taken it from John's coat pocket...? O.O
-"I know where to find people who hate her." Oooohooohooo, and that was essentially a direct threat on Mary's life, and at the moment, the baby's life. Yeah, Magnuson's not getting off this terrace unbloodied. Whether he gets punched, shot or headbutted, he's going down.
-"All in my mind palace. All of it." And so no reason at all to worry about someone else getting control of it if his brain is mashed into a fine paste on the cobblestones. Oh yes, there's going to be a murder here tonight.
-"I could phone them right now, and tear your whole life down. And I will, unless you let me flick your face." It sounds hilarious (I mean really, face-flicking?) except it's him demonstrating his power over John to Sherlock. Which, given the facial expressions of imminent doom and the note of increased tension in the soundtrack, is going to backfire rather completely.
-"This is what I do to people, this is what I do to whole countries, just because I know." I guess he did kind of answered the more salient question there as well about controlling people with no hard proof. Knowing the secret that wants keeping as well as who would bring the most damage by finding out. By threatening him with handing Mary's info over to her old enemies and endangering both her and the baby. Have I mentioned lately that Magnuson needs to die? He really really needs to die.
-"Come on, for Mary, keep it open." FFFFF. Just shoot him. Somebody. Please?
-"Sherlock?"/"Let him. I'm sorry, just let him." John's "Sherlock?" is very 'please tell me I can punch this asshole now' and Sherlock's statement is very good at hiding the tremendous plans he has to fix all this. Which he totally has. Tremendous tremendous plans. He's just doing really well at hiding them; it's almost like he doesn't have a plan at all and is sickened by what's going on and feels totally helpless to do anything about it. Eeeep.
-It's looks like this that make me more and more certain Magnuson is going to die in the next five minutes or less.
-"It's difficult isn't it? Janine managed it once. She makes the funniest noises." Crap, he had Janine too after all?? Was Janine then his plant to keep tabs on Mary, much as Mary was friends with Janine to get access to Magnuson, and that whole selling the fake story to the other papers a whole 'make Magnuson look like someone a mere employee can both get the advantage of news-wise and also one who can simply quit and walk away after working that closely to him in his organisation' scheme? Crap. Poor Janine. Being used or manipulated by so many people in her life. I hope Magnuson leaves her alone in her Sussex cottage. If I were her, I'd keep the bees and train them to attack. I also have to say something about the posturing going on in that scene. Magnuson is using his height difference from John in attempt to make John appear and feel smaller and less able to defend himself, hypothetically. However the look on John's face makes me fairly sure this posturing is not working on John at all, and it's in fact only making John very aware that he has a straight line shot at Magnuson's jugular vein.
-Oh crap, here comes the chopper. Hope it's someone in on the long game and not just some MI6 goons out to drag Sherlock and John to jail for treason. That would make a hell of a cliffhanger though. *is nervous*
-Hunh. Do they send regular police Armed Response units in to pick up top secret laptops and people who've possibly committed treason? That seems weird... did Mycroft send Lestrade and his 'all the police' backup to do the extraction? Also weird. And how did the goons with rifles on the ground get in there when the helicopter hasn't landed yet? I suppose they might have been let in by goons at the main gate in an Armed Response Vehicle since Magnuson's so confident he's not going to bear any culpability for stealing the laptop (except his fingerprints are totally all over it and any others are probably badly smudged after that shuddersome laptop stroking business).
-"Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, stand away from that man." HI MYCROFT!!!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE IN ON ALL THIS? OR ARE TELLING JOHN AND SHERLOCK TO STAND CLEAR SO YOU CAN HIT MAGNUSON WITH A MISSILE? Though that's not quite Mycroft's style, he'd rather get Magnuson disconnected from any access to the outside world in a tiny room and have a series of in-depth percussive conversations with him to extract information. Go, Mycroft! Juice him like a lemon! \o/
-John's got a bit of the same face he had on the bomb train, only without the mustache this time. Oh. It's all going to be fine John. It totally is. *pats reassuringly*
-"Here we go Mr Holmes!" Damn. Too late to shoot him. Even if Mycroft's in on it, he'll want Magnuson alive for interrogation. Still, not much to lose at this point by punching him square in the teeth.
-"To clarify: Appledore's vaults only exist in your mind. Nowhere else." OH CRAP, HERE WE GO! Because if Sherlock is wired or in some way recording (or is shouting loud enough to be heard over the chopper, which I doubt), he's just made the point that in essence, killing Magnuson will erase Appledore's vaults (though, really, if Magnuson hasn't got a sequence of automated and very detailed emails written from his memory room info to go out to everyone he's controlling's worst possible person to find out their secret, all set up to go out from a server that's otherwise entirely unconnected to him upon word of his death appearing in online news sources he trusts not to misreport (or on lack of holdback signal that only he sends once per set period), then he is truly an idiot)) to John, Mycroft, and anyone else listening. *crosses fingers for Magnuson being an idiot*
-"They're not real. They never have been." *facepalm* Okay, Magnuson is an idiot. Like I mentioned earlier, overconfidence can be lethal.
-Oh yes. Magnuson is about to go squish. Somehow.
-"It's fine, they're harmless!" And the Special Firearms Officers start aiming. Hopefully at Magnuson, because really, 'step away from the man' just makes two target groupings, and who the SFOs have been ordered to aim for is not yet set in stone. And also there's the whole 'accidentally shot during raid' scenario, though I'd like to think that's a desperation ploy if things go really sideways, because that leaves Sherlock, John and a lot of police officers out to dry. [Oooooohhhh, just had another run-through of that scene while re-cueing and caught the background audio. "Target is not armed." Target. Singular. They were there to get Magnuson. Oopsie! Probably for the best he doesn't get a chance to influence anyone else regardless, but still] Also... harmless, Magnuson? Really? Harmless? *reaches through screen and smacks Magnuson in the head* Moron.
-"Sherlock, what do we do!?" *glee* Because all through this, John is still following Sherlock's lead and trusting that there's a plan of some kind and *waves hands around and burbles about trust*
-"Nothing! There's nothing to be done!" Not true. Someone can kill Magnuson. Aaaaaany second now. Please?
-"I'm not a villain, I have no evil plan. I'm a businessman." HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Sure. Destroying or controlling other people's lives can be a common business practice. Evil never thinks of itself as evil after all. (Still not quite making out that tie, is it paisley or.... hehe. Heh. QUOTATION MARKS. It's a quotation mark tie. I was thrown because I forgot that single quotes have been more commonly used for punctuation until recent decades in the UK for designating speaking. And looking at it again, it's quotation marks within quotation marks. The truth within the lie? Vice versa? Anyway, the Sherlock Universe tradition of character-themed showdown ties continues. \o/)
-"I'm acquiring assets, you happen to be one of them." Oh, Sherlock's look at John here. Yeah, this is Sherlock reaching his tipping point. No one is allowed to own John and Mary, ever. And again, and always, Sherlock's vow.
-"No chance for you to be a hero this time, Mr Holmes." Hehe. Just wait for it.
(I'd also like to take a brief moment to point out John's blurry little side-eye-roll towards Magnuson in this cap. Is it not glorious?)
-Seriously, at this point story-structure-wise, Sherlock has to shoot him. Having Mycroft swoop in and arrest Magnuson would be satisfying, yes, but Sherlock needs to take a direct action to resolve this, even if it's going to get him in even more trouble. Having big brother resolve everything would be far too pyrrhic, particularly with the intensity of facial expressions Sherlock's had going on here. Magnuson's about to get shot, probably in the head just to be sure, by Sherlock Holmes, in front of an ass-ton of cops and agents. (John could do it, yeah, but Sherlock will tend to take that action away from him (and also, John hasn't been the one with the intense close-ups) to let him and Mary be together to raise their family rather than having John go to jail for murder. Also again, because Vow (even though, like I've said before, making it an out-loud vow has not made Sherlock's perspective of his role in his friends lives and his need to be there for them any less than if he'd never said a word about it at all. Because Holmeses and Watsons are Holmeses and Watsons. *SMISHES ALL OF THEM*)) So, Sherlock will very undeniably shoot Magnuson, at which point Mycroft will facepalm his helicopter headphones clean off his head and have to find a way to clear up his little brother's mess. Again.
-(Also the pointed mention of John's gun earlier has put it on the wall and there is no way that, between John and Sherlock and this situation, that that thing won't be going off. Y'know. Just saying.)
-"Oh, do your research." Here we go!
-It's rather difficult to see a black-sleeved arm dipping into a dark blue pocket for a weapon, but evidently Sherlock did leave John's gun in his jacket. Which in retrospect he would have had to or John would have noticed the lack of two pounds of metal. *nods* Which he has to notice now, and isn't saying a damn thing about it. John Watson, backing Sherlock's play.
-"I'm not a hero." He is a dramatic sonofabitch though.
-"I'm a high-functioning sociopath." Hahahahah. And Bang?
-"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" *BANG* Yep. THANK YOU. Also, I do believe that that Die Hard marathon John made Sherlock sit through at some point has just paid off.
I'd just like to state for the record that while Lars Mikkelsen has been brilliant playing Magnuson (Magnuson is possibly the character that has triggered the deepest and most genuine revulsion I have ever had for a character in a TV series, and that is truly a sign of acting talent) I am quite glad the character won't be alive for Series Four.
-Sherlock wisely dropping the gun before the armed response officers can over-react, though their relative lack of immediate return fire and the generally calm announcement on the helicopter radio of 'man down' makes me pretty certain they were never there to arrest Sherlock and John. [And the re-cueing re-listen of the earlier scene with the singular target corroborates that.]
-Oh yes, let's play with light and shadow, why not. Lovely.
-"Get away from me John, stay well back!" *flails more than a little*
-"Christ! Sherlock!" Meanwhile, John's in a state of coping with going from he and his wife being owned by Magnuson and used against Sherlock and also about to be picked up and imprisoned for life for treason, to having watched his best friend flat-out murder a dude to stop him from being a threat to John and Mary and making John unhappy... and who is probably still about to be picked up and imprisoned for life for treason or several year for accessory to murder (John can pretty much write off ever getting his gun back too, incidentally) or something, for all he knows. Bit of shock.
-"DON'T FIRE! DO NOT FIRE ON SHERLOCK HOLMES!" Nice going, Sherlock, you'll give Mycroft an ulcer at this rate.
-And hello, Armed Response Officer from the opening credit montage.
-"Oh Christ, Sherlock!" LOOK AT HIS FAAAAACE!!! Everything is still processing for John, but that face, dear god.
-"Give my love to Mary. Tell her she's safe now." *flailing* TEAM AWESOME! \o/ And I'm sure Mycroft will be able to find some way to get Sherlock out of having to go to jail for murder by retconning Magnuson's murder as a special op for MI6, since Magnuson was definitely a threat to the UK internally and externally. And really, Magnuson just plain needed to die. *nods*
-Oh and more of John's wonderful face, because there's that brief passing expression of relief that that hold over Mary is gone and yet still he's dealing with that feeling of panic that Sherlock just indisputably murdered one of the most powerful people in Britain and is, as far as John knows, entirely fucked for the rest of his life.
-Well the camera and the soundtrack certainly think Sherlock's a hero. Not that I'm arguing with them.
-Oh John.
-Just *waves vaguely at the screen* Gah.
-To quote Molly Hooper: "You look sad when you think he can’t see you." Blithe heroic one-liners to John, and freaking out underneath. I'm thinking now that maybe murdering Magnuson wasn't part of the original plan, Mycroft involvement or not. I'm almost thinking Sherlock wasn't assuming he wouldn't be getting shot by the police at this point, but that he felt it was worth risking regardless. *flails*
-"Oh Sherlock. What have you done?" Yeah, definitely not part of Mycroft's plan. But it can totally be retconned! You're Mycroft Holmes, you can ping that MI6 job you were offering Sherlock, call in a few favours, keep him out of jail, and then you've got six months to figure out how to extract him from that op while he's still alive. Sure! Totally!
-AWWWWWWWW. Because in Mycroft's view, Sherlock is always going to be his little brother, needing rescued from himself. Aw.
-"As my colleague is fond of remarking this country sometimes needs a blunt instrument. Equally, it sometimes needs a dagger; a scalpel wielded with precision and without remorse." Ahahaha, yep. RETCON LIKE THE WIND, MYCROFT!!
-"If this is some expression of familial sentiment-" I would just like to record for posterity, Mycroft's truly epic eyeroll. Blurry though it may be.
-"I'm not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one." Waaait, what? ... are they adding in a Sherringford Holmes? Well, I suppose if you're going to canonize some Holmesian fanon, it might as well be Baring-Gould's fanon, since as I recall he was trying to retcon or patch all the holes and inconsistencies in the original stories.
-(On a side note, Hey! If they can add in a third Holmes sibling, maybe they can keep Mary alive too! Her and John can have herds of kids! Between the Watsons and Sherlock, they can train them all from birth to be badass ninja assassins with incredible investigative and analytical ability! Ha ha. Ha. No. Moffat and Gatiss would have to jump every shark for that. On the up side or as up a side as the situation can have, I really doubt Mary's going to die from a vaguely mentioned Victorian female disease, and more likely from some part of her past catching up with her with monumental ow.)
-Mentioning 'the other one' got Mr Government Guy to hush up though. Hm. The other one. Setup for Series Four?
-"There is no prison in which we could incarcerate Sherlock without causing a riot on a daily basis." True, also he'd be targeted by everyone he put in there. Really, if determined, Sherlock could probably start riots damn near anywhere if he was determined or drunk (see also the stag night pub crawl) but I get the feeling he wouldn't be trying to at all if he was put in prison for this. Or resisting, or kicking up any fuss at all, which is even more distressing.
-"The alternative however would require your approval." OH HI THERE CAPTAIN ADELAIDE! I MEAN, LADY SMALLWOOD! HAVE YOU HEARD THAT THE SLIMEBALL WHO WAS BLACKMAILING YOU AND DROVE YOUR HUSBAND TO SUICIDE AND LICKED YOUR FACE IS DEAD NOW? \o/ Well! No problem at all then. Although I suppose she could get a bit nervous that technically he was working on her case when this happened and may want to throw Sherlock under a metaphorical bus instead of that connection coming to light, but Magnuson's little reading on her would seem to imply that she's got a sense of honour, and other than her husband's past relationship is relatively unimpeachable.
-"Hardly merciful Mr Holmes."/"Regrettably Lady Smallwood, my brother is a murderer." Yeeeaaaah, that's going to have to be the way it is if any of it's going to fly to keep Sherlock from a murder charge. Especially if Mycroft is known to be involved in the process, because being seen to get his brother off the charges with only a slap on the wrist would put Mycroft's position in a considerable bit of jeopardy, possibly as much as being influenced by Magnuson would have.
-Heh. I suspect this next scene will explain the increased fascination with airports I've noticed via fandom osmosis. I'd thought it might be some sort of Cabin Pressure influence but apparently not.
-No armed guards, that's probably a good sign. Sherlock's stance is a bit hand-cuffy though which would be less of a good sign. Very particularly less of a good sign as he hasn't picked them and is standing there docilely in acceptance of whatever happens next. Eep.
-Oh, god, it's an airport goodbye before Mycroft ships Sherlock off on that 6-month certain death MI6 mission, isn't it. Eeeeeek.
-"You will look after him for me won't you?" I don't know what my face just did, but it felt like there may have been an eyebrow collision. Also flailing. Team Awesome. *flaaaaaail*
-*hands flapping everywhere* AWWWWWW.
-"Don't worry, I'll keep him in trouble."/"That's my girl." Heheeheheh and flail and aww and AWW and just. More flailing. Aww.
-Ah, no handcuffs. Or he's picked them. I'm feeling reassured already.
-I can't even describe the involuntary little noise I made seeing the two of them standing there all stoic and sad.
-"Since this is likely the last conversation I'll have with John Watson-"/John: *breathes*/"-would you mind if we took a moment?" OWWWWWWW. Shit. Well. Yeah. Not like John hasn't had one of those before. Different context, no splat at the bottom, but knowing it's essentially a suicide mission (which Sherlock will of course be coming back from because they're definitely not going to be killing him off, and I have a feeling he's not going to be going to far, otherwise they'll end up starting Series Four where they started Series Three, with Sherlock running around on a botched op and needing an extraction, but still. John's been here before, and the emotional impact is real to them, and they can't be sure Sherlock's coming back because they don't know their lives are probably the most popular thing on the BBC and both of them are pretty darned death-proof right now. And there's that little breath, like a punch in the ribs. So OWW.
-Mycroft's face does a subtle yet hilarious thing that doesn't cap well. He still doesn't see the point of emotional attachment, or still finds it utterly alien that Sherlock's formed one. (Seriously, Mum and Dad Holmes are awesome, so what in hell happened to the boys as kids that they both (but particularly Mycroft) have this issue with emotional attachment? *ponders 'the other one'*)
-Hm. Mary's going off with Mycroft.... I wonder if there's any interesting conversations they might have about all this, and how much Mycroft knows About Mary now...
-Oh look, John's face has come to kill me again. Same stance and expression as after he shot the cabbie and was waiting for Sherlock by the police cars. Smiley non-smile, face squishing horizontally, hands clasped behind back, parade rest. I'd almost think he's up to something.
-"William Sherlock Scott Holmes." ....Sorry, what? Wait... This is more Baring-Gould fanon sneaking in, isn't it? Still though, the only reason the name Sherlock isn't a common name now is that it has the association wit Sherlock Holmes, and most parents don't want to saddle their child with that. It'd be an older name, like Alfred or Enid or Hortescue, but it'd still be around. As mostly middle names, so okay, yeah, fine, he goes by his middle name because it goes with the cheekbones and the turned up collar.
-Meanwhile, John's face hasn't heard of any of the ACD fanon that goes back decades and is adorably befuddled.
-"That's the whole of it. If you're looking for baby names." HA! *FLAIL* Awwwww... And after the rigamarole he went through getting John's middle name, it's also kind of a gesture of... something. Aw.
-"We've had a scan, we're pretty sure it's a girl."/"Oh." Face. Oh god face.
And the monolithic ACD-influenced ow is still looming in the background, I can hear it creaking, but it can sod off for a while because it's not happening now. (...it's not. Is it? Oh god.)
-Oh god, all the awkward.
"...yeah." Awwww.
-"Y'know, honestly I can't think of a single thing to say."/"No, neither can I." Awwwww. And eye contact is a bit much to maintain too. Awww. *flail*
Of course if after this, Mycroft turns around and pulls a fast one so Sherlock doesn't actually leave (like say if he assigns his brother to watch over a dangerous international assassin living covertly on British soil), and after the fall and the train bomb, John's never going to be able to say goodbye to Sherlock without thinking it's all a trick, and I'm going to have to have yet another discussion with the Holmes boys about crying wolf.
-"The game is over."/"The game is never over, John." Not sure if John's trying to call Sherlock's bluff about leaving or trying to get Sherlock to realize his future's seeming pretty screwed now. Either way, it kind of really freaking hurts.
-See. Killing me with his face.
-"But there may be some new players now. It's okay." He's reeeally not doing well at keeping eye contact.
-"The east wind takes us all in the end." GAAAAAAH. What does that mean? It's probably a quote from something I really should recognize. I mean other than ACD's reference in the original "His Last Bow" story where it was a reference to the Second World War.
-Ooo, we're getting an in-story explanation. "Seeks out the unworthy and plucks them from the Earth. That was generally me." Oooh! Mycroft Holmes, you were a mean little turnip! Still are, except now you're a mean big turnip with, like, operatives and firearms squads and stuff. And hopefully slightly more consideration for your little brother's worth.
-Oh, wait, the east wind is a biblical reference. The plagues of Egypt were brought in on the east wind. Right. Sorted.
-"Nice."/"He was a rubbish big brother." Hee!
-Awwwwwwwww.
-"Some undercover work in Eastern Europe."/"For how long?"/"Six months, my brother estimates." *winces* Yeah, that's the death sentence job Mycroft was warning him off of. It's kind of cheating to guess based on series dynamics and filming considerations, but I really can't see them starting Series Four with Sherlock on another op, so something's gotta happen here.... *headdesk* right. Moriarty's going to pop up and Sherlock will get pulled back in from the field for that immediately. Darn spoilers.
-"He's never wrong." And Sherlock isn't telling John that the six months is how long 'til Mycroft figures Sherlock will be killed, because on one hand he hasn't learned a damned thing in all this about telling John the truth, but on the other hand, he's trying to make John feel better by not spelling it all out and so making it seem less like certain death, buuuut I don't know if John's going to buy that either.
-"And then what?"/"...Who knows." Sherlock Holmes, when you are talking to John about things that are actually distressing to you, you are an absolutely lousy liar.
-Yeah, I'd say John's pretty sure what's going to happen before six months is up. Gritting his teeth to keep from saying anything and letting Sherlock keep up the facade so he can keep up his own facade and maybe once the baby's born and Mary's up for some fieldwork, leaving Baby Girl Watson with Mum and Dad Holmes for a few days and going off to kick some ass and extract Sherlock themselves. and make no plans to rescue Sherlock at all. Nope.
-But faces like this are definitely helping the distraction factor.
(Seriously, where did his lips go?? XD)
-"John, there's something I should say. Uh. I've meant to say always and I never have." Reeeeally not helping the 'oh it's just a six-month cake-walk' facade there Sherlock.
-"Since it's unlikely we'll ever meet again I might as well say it now." Whoops. Facade go busting all to smash right there. Of course it's all going to be moot because Sherlock's not going to end up going on this op due to a sudden case of zombie!Moriarty, but at the same time, they don't know that and emotionally, this is hell for both of them. John's had to face losing Sherlock before, and this has to be hitting that barely healed over gaping black pit of ow. Sherlock hasn't truly lost John before. He's faced John being endangered, he's faced John being righteously pissed off at him and not really talking to him, but he hasn't lost John. Part of Sherlock's solace here has got to be that he's leaving his best friend behind, safe, with a partner and a family who will care for him and who he thinks understands him. But that's not much solace all things considered. The ow is deep in this one.
-He's blinking. He's just blinking. HOW CAN HE HURT SO BAD WITH BLINKING?
-"Sherlock is actually a girl's name." AHAHAHAAHAHAH. And yet ow. Because Sherlock is absolutely a boy's name (or a last name) but he wants John to be able to name his baby after him to have something to carry on. OW.
-Oh John's uncappable snicker.
-I don't know what this face is, but it's adorable. Like a pleased turtle.
-This face also defies description. That brow in particular is amazing. But then you mix it with the amused/pained "It's not" and the contributory preliminary snuffling of the incredibly talented Watson nose and it becomes one of the saddest things ever.
-"We're not naming our daughter after you."/"I think it could work." Now that they've added some insulating walls of silly and humor, the eye contact isn't as hard to bear.
-"To the very best of times, John." Don't mind me, I'll just be flailing over here for a bit. Because John's looking at Sherlock's hand like he doesn't know what to do with it and certainly doesn't want to shake it because it will mean goodbye, and his own hand is clenched at his side going nope, not gonna shake, and just *flail*
-And then shake. Because it can't be put off forever. Oh boys. It's all going to be moot in a minute here, but still *flail*
-John's face is killing me again some more.
-And striding off and not looking back, because he's pretty much got to shutter himself off if he's going to make it onto the plane without being restrained or drugged unconscious. That popped up collar's looking a lot like a wall right now.
Oh hi Mary and Mycroft standing within murmuring distance of each other. Somehow I doubt you've been exchanging recipes for bundt cake.
-Even the side of John's face is killing me now.
-Gaaaaaaaah. Sherlock's even sitting on the far side of the plane and looking out the window he won't be able to see them from. Because he just can't, with the- *waves hands around expressively* Gaaaaaaaaaaah.
-Randomly, damn, did Mycroft loan John and Mary one of his cars, or was there a 'thanks for getting rid of the world's biggest asshole' prize John and Mary got the benefit of? That's certainly not the Audi hatchback they started the episode with. *checks their arrival* Nope, it's a Mycroft car. The Audi probably doesn't have high enough clearance to be on the tarmac or something. *handwaves*
-Gaaaaah, still steadfastly looking out the wrong window. I suppose his other options would be to close the shutter or just hide in the loo, but that'd be a little uncouth, and also it's also his last chance to look at Britain, as far as he knows at this point. So he's looking at it out the wrong window so he doesn't see the parts of it that are the hardest to leave behind and lose his grip in front of his brother and the... random MI6 dude, or whoever that was. His new handler? Unimportant. It'll all be moot in a minute. Still. Gaaaaah.
-*theme song starts up* No, wait. He's not supposed to leave, he's gotta come back because of Moriarty. Where's Moriarty? *static* Oh good. Moffatt and Gatiss are just being trolls again.
-Oh, Moriarty's going to be interrupting a football match, this is definitely a crisis.
-Oh it's even worse, he's interrupting Lestrade's football match he's watching in his favourite pub (*points at windows in background* Same pub he met Anderson in to hear about his "Sherlock's alive" theory in the prequel). Heads are gonna roll.
-"Did ya miss me?" And I do believe this is Lestrade's "Oh shit" face.
-Mrs Hudson seems to have the same reaction to people returning fro the dead no matter who they are.
Also, Sherlock's just left on his 'six month' mission, John and Mary are living elsewhere, and Mrs Hudson has gone back into 'keeping 221B tidy and otherwise leaving all of Sherlock's stuff exactly where it was, just in case' mode. Awwwwww Mrs Hudson. *smishes*
-Oh god, poor Molly! The return of a psycho ex is never good, and this one's come back from the dead and taken over the television. D-:
-"How is this possible?" Oooo. Cool. Now see, if I didn't know it was Moriarty (and his shadow in the static hadn't been so distinctive, and the accent was different) this little bit with Lady Smallwood would have me freaking right out about this being Magnuson's dead man info bomb, going out live on all broadcast channels. I suppose it still could be if he co-opted Moriarty's image and got him to record something at some time before the roof, but why would Magnuson do that? I don't doubt he and Moriarty would have been at the very least aware of each other though. One big happy spider-shark social strata.
-"Has the Prime Minister been told? And Mycroft?" Heh heh heh. Good to know their 'contact in case of crisis' list is so short. Though I suppose Mycroft is the ultimate branching point of any emergency phone tree. I am finding myself more intrigued by Lady Smallwood though, and kind of hoping she'll pop up again in some capacity next series. We don't get to see much of what any Mycroft actually does, and it would be kind of cool to see more of this nebulous power grouping.
-"But that's not possible. That is simply not possible!" Heheh. Not often you get to see Mycroft get caught flat-footed by someone who isn't his brother.
-Oh hi John and Mary and the airport. How convenient you're all still here. "What's happened?" And always ready to kick some ass. Good Watsons.
-"It's your brother." ...had a passing thought there about this maybe being 'the other one', and 'the other one' being Moriarty, but naaaaaaaaah. Moffat and Gatiss are too intensely ACD fanboy devoted to do something like that unlike other shows which could be named.
Sherlock's face has gone twelve again. Aw.
-"How's the exile going?"/"I've only been gone four minutes!" Hee! And also aw, because you can bet he's counted every second of those minutes.
-"Well I certainly hope you've learned your lesson." AHAHAHAH, yes I knew it was coming but I still just now did victory arms hard enough to hyper-extend an elbow and threaten a lamp. And of course Mycroft's in full-on suave and unflappable mode, despite being caught by surprise, so it will seem like this was all part of his plan all along... or maybe it was... heh. Heheh. I mean, Mycroft has to have gotten enough footage of Moriarty mouthing off in his cell when he had him at the end of Hound to make a simple recording. Taking over broadcasts, Mycroft has access to all the CCTV's, why not have access to a way to break in to all broadcasts? Heh. And what better way of keeping his little brother home from a suicide mission than faking a crisis at home only he can deal with? Heh heh heh. And I'm sure he could also arrange some minimal 'Moriarty' activity for Sherlock to thwart, and then find the 'real' person behind the recording was a missed minion of Moriarty, or Sebastian Moran, who as far as we know was in custody and could very easily be manipulated into thinking he'd gotten free to get up to some other nasty business. All to keep Sherlock home and safe. Mycroft would do anything to save his little brother after all... hehe. Well. It's probably not that at all, as I have this terrible habit of assuming Mycroft is more powerful and devious than he seems to be, but it makes for a pleasing headcanon until the truth comes out. Personally, I thought Moriarty's death looked fairly simple to fake (blank in the gun (would still probably mess up his mouth a bit at that range though) and a squib and blood pack at the back of the collar. Unless someone actually got Moriarty's corpse during the Flying Sherlock circus act (and if they had, I don't think Mycroft or anyone else would be taking this very seriously), Moriarty might actually be alive. I don't know though.
-"As it turns out, you're needed."/"Oh for god's sake, make up your mind." Heee! Let's take another trip on the emotional roller coaster! Wheee!!! \o/
-HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that could be done by anyone, up to and including Moriarty's 10 year old cousin. I've seen better gifs made in the 1990s. Still, someone who can interrupt all broadcast channels could be a threat (or at least is attending uni.) And, of course, any excuse to keep Sherlock from the mission of doom.
-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And most people who've been watching the news over the past two years will actually recognize him since that whole court thing exonerating Sherlock and proving Richard Brook was fake went through just a few months ago with a big splash.
-"But he's dead. I mean you told me he was dead. Moriarty."/"Absolutely. Blew his own brains out." Well there's part of what Sherlock eventually did tell John about what happened on the roof. But really, did anyone actually get the body? Was there an autopsy? Personally right now, with only that little gif as proof, I'd say he is actually dead, and Mycroft someone is using him as a name to conjure with. On the up side, Mary's there to help the boys out with it this time. TEAM AWESOME FTW! \o/ On the down side.... *GIANT MONOLITH OF ACD-INFLUENCED OW LOOMS AND CREAKS MENACINGLY* ...oh my god... D-:
-"Well if he is, he'd better wrap up warm. There's an East Wind coming." *VERBAL KEYMASHING AND VICTORY ARMS EVERYWHERE* OKAY, I knew Sherlock wasn't leaving and all that, but turning the East Wind quote around is MADE OF SPARKLY BADASSNESS. \o/
-Announcer: "Now the thing is with Sherlock, you'll have to watch to the very end of the credits or you'll miss something." I usually watch the credits anyway, but thanks for the heads' up. After this many month, I have several recordings and purchased versions of this, including the one I bought from iTunes and the one on the DVD I bought, so guaranteed it'll be on at least one of them. It's good to have options. (*peers at credits* Magnussen! I knew I was probably spelling it wrong. Not going back and changing it now though.)
-...Which is good, because the recording I was watching there is missing it. Or rather has the sound of Moriarty saying "Miss me" and blowing a raspberry being played over a trailer for something involving swords and horses. *switches* Ah. It's not a raspberry, it's static. He certainly doesn't seem too thrilled to be back. Maybe it wasn't his idea... And I'm not sure if it's just me and my 'faked death' idea, but his voice seems a little rougher than before... damaged? Ooooo. *ponders*
SO. It took me from mid-January to mid September to watch a two hour TV program, (which does have the auxiliary benefit of reducing my subjective wait time for the next Series by 9 months, so that's a plus), but now it's done! Woohoo! \o/
The result is all this stuff *gestures back over eight parts* 54k words of babble and over a thousand caps. I'm now going to edit, code, break into chunks and post this, and then over the next while I'll probably be all over this fandom like a disease, checking out things I haven't looked at due to spoilers, so if you get a comment from me on something ancient, that's why. If there's anything out there that's happened in the fandom since January that you think I might like to see, please link it below.
Also, please play nice in the comments. I try to keep these posts positive and I understand that certain characters in this episode can be seen as divisive in the fandom, and everyone is certainly allowed to hold their own opinions, but please, no fighting. This is a place of squee. :-)
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR OR ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES OR SERIES' OF SHERLOCK)