More re Sherlock

[shapinglight]

I still enjoyed last night's episode enormously, but in retrospect I do have one quibble, which should be seen in light of what I said about the Doctor Who Christmas special.

Spoilers behind cut.



Yes, in retrospect, I feel a bit that Moffatt has done with Mary Watson what he seems unable to stop himself doing with every female companion Matt Smith's Doctor had - ie. they're all the most speshul companion ever (until the next one). In other words, Mary has been River Song'd.

And okay, it did make quite a good plot twist, but I could have done without it actually. I'd rather Mary had been what she appeared to be - a normal, well-balanced person, who could take John having a friend as weird and possessive as Sherlock in her stride.

Now, instead, she's a retired super-assassin with a Past.

I don't see why that was necessary - certainly not to make her interesting, because she was plenty interesting before.

Comments

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

I think the point was that John had a pattern. That he's attracted to danger.
If Mary was a normal person like in canon she wouldn't last long, like in canon - John is just not built for normal life with anyone, he always goes back to Holmes for thrills, in the books I mean. And when Mary's gone in the books, nobody misses her that much.

Making her dangerous is making her really interesting for John and will keep her around for a while. So it's not about her, it's about John's personality in the show (and in the books). To make this pair stick she had to be more like Holmes, in a way.

I really, really like this show, and like that they found a way for Mary to be around. I'd be devastated if they killed her like in the books.

But I have another quibble: why did she have to shoot Sherlock, really? I didn't get it. She shot him almost to death, she was prepared for him to die or to live. If she didn't want him babble about her to John, why not just kill him? If she wanted to save him, she chose a strange way - he could have just easily die.

[shapinglight]

I think she shot Sherlock just because it was dramatic. Moffatt, like Joss, will always go for drama over sense.

I dunno, re: Mary. I still don't think it was necessary to make her Mrs Super Assassin just to keep her alive.

[ex_peasant441]

I think in a show like Sherlock she can carry off being special because everybody else is special as well. Even Mrs Hudson is special. The closest we get to non-special people are Molly and Greg, and even they are far from dull.

[shapinglight]

In spite of my quibble, it did work for me at the time, and I don't mind it nearly as much as I mind it in DW.

However, seems that, like Joss, Moffatt has his patterns that he'll never stray from.

[ex_peasant441]

Presumably every writer does, it's just a question of whether they niggle us or not. As you say, it is far less annoying in Sherlock than in DW.

I wonder how much Gattis wrote this time - Mycroft seems to have a much bigger part ;)

[shapinglight]

Mycroft was also disturbingly human. The world be about to end.

[twilightofmagic.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying, but I must say, I like the element of kink it brings into their relationship, actually the threesome implicit in Watson's attraction to both Sherlock and Mary. I loved the little moment when Mary in her nightie and robe spots Watson's tire iron weapon and finds it hot. Of course a little clue among others that she is not the usual suburban wife. Mind you, I know a few right here on this site who, though not actually carrying weapons (but then, who really knows), write the most extraordinarily kinky fics. Appearances definitely are deceiving :)

[shapinglight]

Hi, ToM

Believe it or not my slash goggles don't work too well these days. I don't get the whole Sherlock/John 'ship at all. Sherlock strikes me as pretty much asexual.

[kikimay]

Heh. It bothers me too. The first thing I thought watching Mary with the gun was: River Song without that hair.

I understand that every writers, even the geniuses, has a pattern. It something that comes with the package. But you also have to explore different things.

I don't know. I really liked Mary in the first two episodes and Amanda is absolutely lovely. Let's wait for S4.

[shapinglight]

Er...which was Amanda?

[kikimay]

Mary Watson is played by Amanda Abbigdon. I think she's lovely.

[shapinglight]

Okay, sorry. I never took that in.

[kikimay]

Nothing to be sorry. I often don't know the names of the actors. This time I do because Amanda is Martin Freeman's RL partner and I read it while they were filming S3.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Absolutely agree! I enjoyed it a lot, but I bet I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't know Moffat's Who. Then I would have loved the turn I think, this way it felt a bit plagiarized.

[shapinglight]

Yes, him repeating his tired old formula, just the way Joss does.

[lokifan]

Personally I love her even more now - and I think there's a lot that's cool about what Moffat et al did with her, not least making HER the Moran stand-in rather than the random Lord in episode 1. But then I think River's brilliant :)

[shapinglight]

To each their own. :)