Wandering in from the Holmesian News link. Your worries worry me! And yet I do think there are ways to deal dramatically with Mary and Mycroft (each of whom need to be eliminated from the story for at least a while) without killing them.
We know Mary has some kind of family, per the telegram. We know she's pregnant, and she was horrified at Sherlock's saying it out loud (OK, I dunno, it seemed obvious to me). So possibly bigamy, with blackmail involved. In any case, the child isn't John's (maybe). This leaves open the options of her disappearing, being kidnapped, leaving John for her (abusive?) lover/husband, etc. The baby doesn't figure into whether she'll live or die, but it would be interesting if it was the child of someone who is influential and thus vulnerable to blackmail.
Which brings us to Mycroft. (Not the father, yeesh.) Mycroft could die, but what would be worse for him? Conviction for murder? Or, better, conviction for treason? What if taking down Magnussen means taking down Mycroft? Perhaps Mycroft can't be blackmailed, but perhaps he'll take the fall for someone who can be. That would put him neatly out of commission for the sake of the story.
I think something will happen to both of them, but it doesn't have to be death to be horrible.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-01-07 09:06 am (UTC)We know Mary has some kind of family, per the telegram. We know she's pregnant, and she was horrified at Sherlock's saying it out loud (OK, I dunno, it seemed obvious to me). So possibly bigamy, with blackmail involved. In any case, the child isn't John's (maybe). This leaves open the options of her disappearing, being kidnapped, leaving John for her (abusive?) lover/husband, etc. The baby doesn't figure into whether she'll live or die, but it would be interesting if it was the child of someone who is influential and thus vulnerable to blackmail.
Which brings us to Mycroft. (Not the father, yeesh.) Mycroft could die, but what would be worse for him? Conviction for murder? Or, better, conviction for treason? What if taking down Magnussen means taking down Mycroft? Perhaps Mycroft can't be blackmailed, but perhaps he'll take the fall for someone who can be. That would put him neatly out of commission for the sake of the story.
I think something will happen to both of them, but it doesn't have to be death to be horrible.
How's that?