THE EMPTY HEARSE THOUGHTS

[earlgreytea68]

So. Much. To. Say. You guys. I loved that *so* much. Somehow it felt not like any of the reunions anyone had written--certainly not how I've written it--and yet it felt perfect to me. And I think that was partly because of the complete and utter confidence of the tone. A friend and I watched every single episode of Sherlock over NYE into NYD and this episode felt different. It felt. ..self-assured. This is a show right now that is cognizant of what a hit it is. And there was something breezy about the episode as a consequence. "Yes, you spent two years without me, and didn't you miss me?" YES is the answer to that.

And that's what's clever about the episode (that amongst many other things I will talk about) because in making the main character's absence on the show to be real time, the show *made itself into* its main character. "Sherlock" became Sherlock, swanning back into your life with ridiculous charm and making you forgive everything. And yeah, sometimes it was a bit of a jerk about it, but, it reminded you, that was always kind of what you loved about it in the first place, wasn't it?

And the difference in the show was a difference in the character, too. Benedict has always owned the role but the show has actually usually felt to me like it belongs to Martin, like it's Watson who's really the protagonist,  despite the title. (It is no accident that Martin got a BAFTA first. Although it is an accident that Benedict still doesn't have one.) This episode, though, felt like Benedict taking control of the whole thing. They are both always remarkable on the show--I don't mean to imply they aren't, they operate on the most incredible level--but this episode was Benedict's. He felt like an unstoppable tour de force in the role. "I'm a big movie star now and you know how I got there? By being awesome at *this*." That's how his performance felt to me. It felt like he was pleased to be back in his little kingdom of Sherlock Holmes, which has been, after all, so very good to him.

And part of what I found so impressive about Benedict's performance last night was how different Sherlock was as a character. He wasn't the Sherlock we had in Season 2 and I just felt like it takes an astonishing amount of self-assurance to come back to the character who made your name and *change him.* And I have, over the course of this two-year hiatus, come to love Sherlock so maybe I should have been thrown to have him feel so different but I actually thought it was brilliant of them. He's been away two years under tough circumstances. Naturally he's going to be different. It could have been an easy mistake to trip that up. And I don't think they did. I liked the new Sherlock. In fact, I think I'm going to say that I absolutely adored him. Moffat and Gatiss have always said that they wanted to write Sherlock Holmes young,  that they wanted to grow him up through the series, and I just thought they wanted to cast a hot younger guy, but no: They really did grow Sherlock Holmes up. And oh my God it's such a beautiful thing to see. It was, honestly, a little bit like the Sherlock I imagine you get from "Saving Sherlock Holmes," so of course I'm going to find that delightful.

And nowhere, I thought, was the growth more evident than with Mycroft.(Except maybe for Mary, and I'll get to Mary in a second.) But first, let's talk about Mycroft, because Mycroft's my favorite, as you know. (Okay, you know my secret, they're all my favorite.) In the canon, the Sherlock/Mycroft relationship is not nearly as fraught as it has been on the show. I've never really been sad about that, because I adore their relationship, I've been resolving it for them happily for years now. But in the space of this episode--in the space of one scene, really--they aligned their Sherlock and Mycroft basically with canon, and they did it in a way that felt to me believable and lovely and wonderful, like we should have known we were heading for this all along.

Mycroft was WONDERFUL in this epiode. I was so glad that they went the canon route of having him instrumental in the plan. Doing fieldwork! Do you know how much I loved that? THIIIIIIS MUCH. And then complaining about it! "The noise, the people." HAHAHAH, MYCROFT, NEVER CHANGE. I loved how they let him show off his brilliance, because he *is* smarter in canon, and I'm glad that they acknowledged that. Mycroft was clever, and Sherlock was *such* a little brother, mocking lovingly, so fantastic. That part where Mrs. Hudson tells them they're both pleased to see each other, God. I LOVED the detail that they both thought Sherlock was an idiot growing up because their only frame of reference was Mycroft. Hahahahahaha! And I loved Sherlock's little manipulative deduction about the hat, turning Mycroft's words back on him. "How would you know?" asks Sherlock, and maybe he feels like he can be so confident with his brother because he finally has a leg up on him, has learned something that Mycroft hasn't learned. The Sherlock who says to Mycroft, in disbelief, "You don't [do friends]? *Ever*?" is such a far cry from the confused, hurting Sherlock in that morgue scene, smoking a cigarette while Mycroft assured him that caring wasn't an advantage. This is a Sherlock who has learned, definitively, that it *is.* This Sherlock came back with the realization that, actually, he has quite a lot of friends, and he is determined to enjoy all of them, and I love that. The episode ends on Sherlock Holmes, going off to be Sherlock Holmes, and he looks *so* *happy* about it. I have no idea what the rest of the season is going to hold for us, but I am so glad to have been given this episode, where I got to see Sherlock Holmes be happy.

It's true that I only watched this episode twice last night (and then again today) but I didn't have to because then I spent several hours on Tumblr rewatching the episode in gif form and that's almost better because it allows for detailed examination of faces and more on that with the train scene below.

Other observations:

• I actually liked that this episode wasn't necessarily all about John. I mean, it's obvious Sherlock misses him, but Sherlock was also pleased to have the rest of his life back, too, and I kind of liked that. The Sherlock we had before we almost completely dependent on John, didn't recognize the value of other people in his life. And I liked that, that was lovely, I liked watching him fall in love like that, but I thought it was nice that the Sherlock who came back wasn't just about coming back for John. I never wrote him that way before, but I thought it showed even more growth. (And don't worry, I thought there was Johnlock enough. HE HEARS JOHN'S VOICE IN HIS HEAD. I mean, yes.)

• And speaking of Johnlock, let's talk about Mary. I actually didn't mind her, and that was a huge relief. Mostly because, well, she was barely in it, thank God. I was really worried they were going to make the show All About Mary, because I didn't trust them, but I'm relieved that it feels *just* like canon. Mary shows up and John gets married and nothing about his life with Sherlock really changes. So it's fine. I'm fine if that's what they're going to do. I thought she was fine. I mean, she was cute, and she was funny, and she liked Sherlock, which was nice, and Sherlock didn't seem to mind her, which was also nice. She's clearly a big Johnlock shipper and I like to imagine that she is well aware that Sherlock Holmes is the love of John Watson's life and she's willing to go along for the ride. I am not in love with Mary, but, well, I'm in love with everyone else, sorry, Mary, so it's just that it's a high standard. And: you're cute and all, but I don't know that I trust you. I could be completely wrong about that. But I don't trust her yet. Maybe she'll just be this bland, lovely girl that John met while Sherlock was away, but I don't know yet. I feel like my verdict's still out on her. But I do not hate her. I'm not going to write OT3 fic, but she didn't ruin my show, and I am so relieved.

• THAT OPENING SCENE. Okay, so you knew it had to be a fan thing--or you hoped, maybe--but I will be forever grateful for Sherlock smashing through the window, fixing his coat, RUFFLING HIS HAIR, and then snogging the life out of Molly. That scene was completely audacious and ridiculously sexy and I have watched that hair ruffle 289080 times already. And that shot where he's walking down the hallway and glances back, like, "This is my show, bitches. Buckle up." Seriously? I loved it.

• And I saw some stuff on Tumblr about people complaining about the fan stuff in this episode, but I loved every second of it. I didn't feel like it was mean-spirited, I thought it was...jumping in on the fun. Every touch of it, from Moriarty and Sherlock giggling like schoolboys and falling in love on a rooftop (THAT WAS GENIUS) to Sherlock showing up in a silly disguise (CABIN PRESSURE FRENCH) and announcing, "Not dead!" I just...I just loved it. I like my shows meta like that, though. (I do feel like they are constantly on the Sherlock tag on Tumblr, though. I mean, yeah.) (I even loved them talking to us about the death fakery: "Everyone's a critic," drawls Sherlock. Indeed. GUYS. I LOVE THIS SHOW.) (One of my commenters said that the entire episode was one long love letter apology to us for making us wait so long, and I kind of like that idea. "Here, guys, here's some of what you said you wanted. Gif away, write your fanfic, see you in a couple of days.")

• Speaking of Sherlock's disguise, that scene was over-the-top absurd and I loved it. Oh, Sherlock. You're so silly and cute with your thinking if you're just adorable enough, John will totally not throttle you. (Wrong, Sherlock.) And him being like, "Read this one, ma'am, it's completely identical." I just loved him. And I like how, essentially, it's supposed to be this grand romantic gesture. "I'm going to surprise him! With champagne!" Oh, Sherlock. I love you, darling. (I also kind of liked how, yes, John tackled him to throttle him, but he could also have tackled him to kiss him so if you stop watching the scene at the right point, well, yes.)

• I liked that they had Lestrade hug him. Actually, I loved it. He needed that. But, in retrospect, even though I almost always write their reunion with John collapsing into his arms, I was glad he didn't. Lestrade *can* hug him. Lestrade can be happy to see him without complicating factors. John can't hug him. John is so hurt. John has so many emotions. John will shout at him in a cafe and he'll shout right back and it's lovely. Those two. Their chemistry is just off-the-charts, they steal every scene. (I saw Smaug yesterday, too, incidentally, and Smaug and Bilbo had the most chemistry of any two characters in that movie. The Freeman/Cumberbatch chemistry is so reliable it works even when one of them is a dragon. FORGET ABOUT LAKE-TOWN, SMAUG, TAKE YOUR HOBBIT AND GO SOLVE CRIMES TOGETHER.)

• So there was no Sally, huh? I think I'm almost glad about that, because, having just watched Reichenbach right before this episode, wow, she is just horrible and terrible and I am happy if we never see her again.

• I did like the redemption of Anderson. It actually gave me my favorite gif, of his little breakdown. I have no idea what that was all about but it makes me laugh literally every time I see it.

• "You've been letting things slide, Graham." "Greg." "Greg." OH MY GOD, SHERLOCK. Again I say: I love you and I love your show.

• I like that we got to see, briefly, that those two years were hard on him. Really, really hard on him. Yeah, they didn't dwell on it, but we *know,* and it explains so much about how Sherlock came back, so determinedly, almost frantically cheerful, so dedicated to *being* *Sherlock* *Holmes.* I like that he realized that being Sherlock Holmes actually wasn't bad and he wants it back. He wants his brother dropping by Baker Street (TO PLAY BOARD GAMES WHILE DISCUSSING TERRORISTS OH MY GOD) and Mrs. Hudson bringing him biscuits and Lestrade calling him in for cases and Molly being Molly and he wants his coat (HIS COAT) and he wants London and he wants to cause a stir and he wants to BE SHERLOCK HOLMES and good for him, I'm so glad he realized that he likes himself. I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm seriously just so happy for him. Someone wrote the most beautiful meta on Tumblr about how this show is all about being different and being okay with that and I just...yeah.

• So John never talked to Mrs. Hudson, huh? That's usually how I write John after the fall, and I got so little else right about the whole thing that I'm clinging to that one. ;-)

• "I need you to give this your full attention, Sherlock, is that clear?" "What do you think of this shirt?" Oh, new sassy teasing little brother Sherlock, I seriously love you.

• "We meet up every Friday for fish and chips." God, Mycroft and Sherlock, you're SO PERFECT in this episode.

• LET US TALK ABOUT THE STARRING ROLE OF SHERLOCK'S COAT. Okay, we talked about it. :-)

• The intercuts of Sherlock and John working, so ridiculously tongue-in-cheek, so excellent. And oh, John, you've got by far the short end of the stick with what you're doing, go hang out with your hot, pajama-clad boyfriend and have a bit of fun.

• Oh, as usual, they were so clever with their little canon nods. So clever. Mary getting a text about "James or John Watson." Ha! I thought that was brilliant. And Sherlock following his rats to Sumatra Road. Oh, neat touch, you guys. Carry on. And the red herring patient in disguise. The "old bookseller." Nice, Gatiss. And "I prefer my doctors clean-shaven."

• I was really against Sherlock's parents showing up because I selfishly wanted them for myself, but you know what? I LOVED THAT SCENE. First, I love that it was Benedict's real parents, of course. But second, I love that IT FELT LIKE HIS PARENTS. It was just perfectly done. They don't even blink while Sherlock's walking all over the furniture, and then John shows up and Sherlock is like, "OH MY GOD MY BOYFRIEND IS HERE THIS IS MORTIFYING GET OUT, MUM AND DAD, GET *OUT*." My friend brought up that the only thing wrong with giving him those parents is that it seems strange that he needs Mrs. Hudson in his life when he's already got a mum just like that. But I actually think, well, it's always easier to deal with the mother figures you choose for yourself instead of your actual mother and it's kind of sweet that he went and chose a landlady who is clearly a little bit like his mother.

• John being kidnapped and thrown in a bonfire. Looking forward to finding out what that was all about, but I loved it. I love how fire exposes your priorities (oh, the ASiB references in this one, right down to John going straight for his nose and teeth). I loved Sherlock running flat-out through the crowd, pushing people out of his way, leaning over John with his hand cupping his face and calling his name. Oh, boys. Kiss already, you'd both feel so much better.

• "I like trains." "...Yes." Loved that line delivery. Loved it.

• So. Speaking of trains. Spent a lot of time last night trying to figure out how much of that final train scene with John was a set-up. Sherlock called the police, even though he lies and tells John he didn't, so he must have planned to do something down there with him. But what? Fire exposes your priorities, remember, and Sherlock's just been reminded of that, so he apparently had some sort of plan. So was everything in the train faked on Sherlock's part? I don't know. I don't *think* so. First, I don't think he anticipated that the entire train would be the bomb. I thought he thought there would be a bomb *on* the train, and he found himself facing a situation he hadn't quite anticipated. Second, I don't think he knew that the bomb would be armed while they were on it. The part where he tells John to go, that feels real to me. When John yells at him for not calling the police and he says, "It's no use now," I think he is genuinely thinking that they're not going to there in time anyway (which they weren't). I would like to think he panics for a second on the train and that their lovely disagreement ("You're a solider, as you keep reminding us!" "See, you know things!") isn't completely a sham on Sherlock's part. And that mind palace conversation, oh my God. Just...I can't really describe why they work so well together. It's like lightning in a bottle. They electrify the screen when they're on it, they're just so easily, undeniably Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, and I loved that train scene too much to decide that Sherlock didn't have a moment of panic about John there. Now. There is of course a point where Sherlock is in complete control of the situation, even if you think that he might not have been in complete control the whole time (a debatable point). Sherlock leans down and he switches the bomb off and he takes a second and then he looks up with his eyes full of tears, begging for forgiveness. And it's an act. We know now that it's an act .*John* even thinks that he knows it's an act. And the thing is, it was cruel, yes, but Sherlock's *like* that, and this is his best friend, the only part of his life that hasn't been fixed yet, the only part of Being Sherlock Holmes that he's missing, and it's a huge part, and I think he thought, "I've got a chance I'm never going to get again, let me give it a try." AND THEN IT WORKS. And I don't actually think that Sherlock expected it to work. I have studied the gifs of the scene extensively at this point. When John says, "You were the best and wisest man I've ever known," Sherlock's face changes. There seems to be genuine surprise. I mean, it looks like Sherlock is sincerely touched by John saying that. In fact, he looks *amazed,* like he's been given the world's greatest gift and he can't believe it. If you find a gif of Sherlock's reaction there and you look at it for long enough, it will break your heart. And it is different from gifs of Sherlock's face when he 's pretending, right before John says that. It's different, and Benedict is a good enough actor that I trust that difference. I think Sherlock couldn't believe that John would say that to him, and I think he needed to hear that said more than even he had realized. I also think John needed to say it. And I think John knew that. Which is partly why he doesn't seem as angry as he could be when Sherlock reveals the deception. And also partly it's because I've always, always, always said that John loves about Sherlock everything the rest of the world would find inappropriate. It's why Sherlock feels like it doesn't matter anymore that he's different, because he had John unconditionally loving him for eighteen months and proving it to him. Sherlock Holmes manipulates him with a bomb in a subway car and John *laughs,* because John loves him and he can't help it. And also, partly, I think they had to laugh, because if they didn't they would cry, and they are not that type. (I thought it interesting, John saying he finds these things difficult and Sherlock agreeing. Like, "We are both muddling through FEELINGS here together.") They have always laughed, after Sherlock sets John up to make his point. They have always been giddy together. I was glad to see them do it again, the way they have giggled at crime scenes throughout their relationship. So yes. I liked the train scene, even if I haven't quite wrapped y mind around it yet. I may have to w