I'm also a fan of both Mycroft and Mary, and I honestly don't think they'll kill either of them off next week. Crossing my fingers that I haven't jinxed us! :)
In the original Charles Augustus Milverton story, after all, it is the villain himself who is murdered by one of his victims, who is determined to stop him before he ruins anyone else's life. If we do get a cliffhanger, I think it might be more about how far one or all of our heroes might go to take this guy down, and what the moral/legal consequences might be for them. In other words, I think it might wind up being more about killing than about being killed. But that's just a guess based on the basic structure of the original story.
I don't think they will do anything that resembles Reichenbach too much. I saw this interesting interview with Moffat about cliffhangers, in which he seems to say that variety is more important to him than constantly trying to top the previous ones:
This past season posed many questions following the events of "The Reichenbach Fall." As a writer and producer, do you strive for cliffhangers at every possible opportunity?
Yeah, I think it's a great way to get people to come back next week frankly or next year or two years. I think cliffhangers are good. You can do too many of them and I don't think you can do them all the time, but because we ended the first series with a cliffhanger -- that people made a fuss about, but that I thought wasn't that huge -- we just decided to go mental with the cliffhanger on the second series. You can't do that every time, nor will we, because it will become repetitive and become predictable. Of course, it's exciting for the audience that's still buzzing about the show and thinking about the show, as opposed to the show fading away.
Is there a challenge within that, to create a perfect moment that will keep people talking for months on end?
I don't think there's a particular formula, no. If there was a formula, it would be predictable and really obvious. At different moments in the story, you're looking to engage and shock the audience. I do want an ending that stays with people, that people think about. I don't think I have a particular approach to that.
I don't know if that will make you feel better or worse! But I trust that whatever happens will be something different to anything we can exactly anticipate.
Thanks for your reactions! Always glad to see your thoughts and enthusiasm, and I'm hoping your fears will be dodged next weekend!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-01-07 05:37 am (UTC)In the original Charles Augustus Milverton story, after all, it is the villain himself who is murdered by one of his victims, who is determined to stop him before he ruins anyone else's life. If we do get a cliffhanger, I think it might be more about how far one or all of our heroes might go to take this guy down, and what the moral/legal consequences might be for them. In other words, I think it might wind up being more about killing than about being killed. But that's just a guess based on the basic structure of the original story.
I don't think they will do anything that resembles Reichenbach too much. I saw this interesting interview with Moffat about cliffhangers, in which he seems to say that variety is more important to him than constantly trying to top the previous ones:
This past season posed many questions following the events of "The Reichenbach Fall." As a writer and producer, do you strive for cliffhangers at every possible opportunity?
Yeah, I think it's a great way to get people to come back next week frankly or next year or two years. I think cliffhangers are good. You can do too many of them and I don't think you can do them all the time, but because we ended the first series with a cliffhanger -- that people made a fuss about, but that I thought wasn't that huge -- we just decided to go mental with the cliffhanger on the second series. You can't do that every time, nor will we, because it will become repetitive and become predictable. Of course, it's exciting for the audience that's still buzzing about the show and thinking about the show, as opposed to the show fading away.
Is there a challenge within that, to create a perfect moment that will keep people talking for months on end?
I don't think there's a particular formula, no. If there was a formula, it would be predictable and really obvious. At different moments in the story, you're looking to engage and shock the audience. I do want an ending that stays with people, that people think about. I don't think I have a particular approach to that.
I don't know if that will make you feel better or worse! But I trust that whatever happens will be something different to anything we can exactly anticipate.
Thanks for your reactions! Always glad to see your thoughts and enthusiasm, and I'm hoping your fears will be dodged next weekend!