“His Last Vow” Speculation Post
Jan. 7th, 2014 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowfireflameI realize I’ve only got a week to do this, so we’ve got to get started right away.
So I wanted to go on and on about the brilliance that was “The Sign of Three,” and how it was one of my favorite things ever, making Sherlock’s characterization explicit in a way that had never been done before. I adored it, I adored everything about it, and I probably will be able to post those thoughts later and look upon this episode with happiness. (In the meantime, as usual![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
earlgreytea68 accurately summarizes all my thoughts.)
But right now, guys, I need to share my fears. I’m just so terrified about what’s going to happen at the end of “His Last Vow” that I can’t focus on the squee of “The Sign of Three” (though I’m re-watching it obsessively, especially the drunk scenes). Because I don’t see a good way out of this episode for us.
I’d like to stress that this is all speculation, but I have seen the 30-second trailer for “His Last Vow” and reference it.
This is the sad state of the situation with this show: we don’t have a ton of major characters to work with here. And the writers have decided to conclude each series with a semi-tragic and dramatic cliffhanger. If anybody can think of a suitably tragic cliffhanger that doesn’t involve killing off one of our beloved and precious characters, please for the love of God speak up now. Because I can’t think of a good one. Which means that one of the characters may in fact die in “His Last Vow.” Obviously, I hope fervently to be proven wrong because I adore everyone and will be devastated if this happens.
Just for reference, let’s list the major characters of Sherlock whose deaths would have an emotional impact on fans: Sherlock, John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, Mary, and Mycroft (Moriarty has already been killed). (I see Donovan, Anderson, and Anthea as more minor characters whose deaths wouldn’t have that massively significant emotional impact.) Of those, the first two are immune for obvious reasons. And now I’m going to argue that the next three are also safe, for this reason alone: the locations of importance they’re tied to.
Mrs. Hudson provides access to 221B. Also I think the writers just adore her, and so much light would be lost if she died. Lestrade—well, they’re not killing off Rupert Graves; that’s just not happening. But he also provides access to Scotland Yard. Molly provides access to Bart’s morgue. Of those, Molly is the most easily replaceable—but I just can’t see them killing her, not after making her such a fan favorite. I don’t like the look of that arc.
And now Mary. Let’s have a show of hands, everyone who thinks Mary isn’t going to die in this episode. *crickets* Nobody? Yeah, that’s what I thought. And that’s also why I think the writers won’t kill her, especially now that pregnancy is an option. They just love messing with our expectations. Plus, we just got to know (and, for many of us, adore) Mary. I know that she dies in canon (confusingly and offscreen), but the writers change things about canon all the time. What a completely wasted opportunity and dynamic if Mary were to die so soon. She has such beautiful chemistry with John (of course) and Sherlock (so lovely), and how often does that happen? Keeping her on would indicate continuing to go down a new road for these writers whom we know never like to sit on their laurels. Everything is change and development with them.
But Mycroft. Oh, my darling. Mycroft is the reason I tried this show in the first place, well before I had any idea who Benedict Cumberbatch was. I was just minding my own business in Harry Potter fandom and ignoring the many Sherlock fanfics that kept popping up, until I saw the name “Mycroft Holmes” in one of them, which I found intriguing. I’d never before heard (or seen in any adaptation) that Sherlock Holmes had a brother—an older one, a smarter one—and that idea completely fascinated me.
I was hooked on this show the moment Sherlock said, “We’ll start with the riding crop” and smiled so cheekily, but I started to love it the moment Mycroft said, “I worry about him—constantly.” And every interaction between the Holmes brothers since that moment has been better and better. Holmescest has become something of an addiction to me.
But it must be acknowledged that Mycroft is the deus ex machina of this series. He’s been compared to Dumbledore, and I think that is apt: as long as Mycroft exists, with his resources and power, Sherlock can be extracted from almost any difficulty. Mycroft is also a great device for bringing Sherlock cases of international importance.
I think their relationship has come to an impasse, and this entire show—not just this series—has been building on that to get to this point. From the second Mycroft says, “I worry about him—constantly” but then tells Sherlock that “Caring is not an advantage,” there has been a disconnect in Mycroft’s characterization that has not yet been explained.
I think the brothers are more alike than even they realize. Sherlock is an extremely emotionally repressed man who is redeemed by his love for John (and John’s for him), and I think Mycroft is the same, except instead of John he has his little brother. The world might be filled with goldfish, but Mycroft does love his brother, even if he has strange ways of showing it sometimes. Sure, he might like to see Sherlock get beaten up a bit here and there, just your regular bit of Serbian torture, but in the end Mycroft will do what it takes to extract him from a situation that, really, Sherlock got everyone into by flirting with Moriarty. Mycroft will always extract Sherlock from any situation because for so long, all they had was each other.
Can you imagine what hell it must have been for Mycroft growing up all alone with nobody but his ordinary parents for company? And then he got a little companion. Whom he thought was an idiot. Who maybe is an idiot in comparison to Mycroft, but is a genius when compared to the rest of the world.
In “The Empty Hearse,” the brothers finally reach that impasse I talked about earlier. Mycroft’s position is that it’s pointless to care about other people—ordinary people—because they will drag you down, become a liability, use you up and leave you worse than before, and in his job, liabilities must be kept to the minimum. Mycroft feels that Sherlock should also adopt this belief—he’s been drilling it into Sherlock for ages. Over the course of the series, Sherlock has slowly come to adopt the position that having “Caring is not an advantage” as your motto dooms you to a life of unhappiness, makes you lonely, means there’s something wrong with you. Sherlock’s seen how much his life has been enriched by genuinely caring about John and the other members of his little adopted family, and all he wants for his brother is to be happy.
I think that all Mycroft wants for his brother is to be safe. Mycroft’s seen—we’ve all seen, now, after “The Sign of Three”—exactly how soft Sherlock is, how easily he can be hurt, and it terrifies Mycroft. Moriarty’s already manipulated Sherlock into throwing away two years of his life by using three disadvantages to get at him and hurt him. Mycroft sees John and Mary getting married and thinks he can see the future, which Sherlock also dreads but bravely tries to ignore: domestic bliss between the happy couple, with no place for Sherlock, who’s left out in the cold, lonely again. Everyone, even Mrs. Hudson, thinks that’s how it will end up—except John and Mary seem determined not to let that happen. Only time will tell who’s right. Mycroft dreads that for Sherlock, having loved and lost will be worse than never having loved at all. And you know what? Looking at Sherlock’s face as he realizes there’s no dance partner for him and leaves the wedding early, I fear Mycroft might be right.
Which brings us to “His Last Vow.” Because Sherlock has married himself into Mary and John’s relationship, promising to do whatever it takes, forever and always, to keep them safe. He didn’t need to vow that; everyone already knew. But I’ll bet you that one Charles Augustus Magnussen finds that little vow to be fascinating, especially in light of how deeply disturbed Mary and Sherlock were, how easily they coordinated, how quickly they acted when John was in the bonfire. It’s clear to me that Magnussen (“CAM”) is blackmailing Mary, though I can’t guess the details or extent. I don’t believe Mary is evil, though. How far does that vow extend, one might ask, if one were a psychopath who turns even the stomach of Sherlock Holmes.
Well, we already know: Sherlock’s already been prepared to give his life to stop Moriarty, who was threatening his friends. But it’s easy to sacrifice yourself to save your friends, to selflessly throw away two years of your own life. I’m sure it’s much harder to make that decision between choosing to save someone you love over someone else you love.
So that is what I think will happen in “His Last Vow.” Sherlock will have to choose, and it will be an impossible decision. Choose between John and Mary? Or John/Mary and Mycroft? Or someone else? And one outcome is that Mycroft may end up dying because of that decision. Choosing to sacrifice himself to save Sherlock having to make the decision? Or Sherlock having to put his vow to the test, choosing between John+Mary and his own brother? I don’t know. I don’t want to know. But I fear something terrible is on the horizon.
I can tell from Mycroft’s scene on the treadmill and on the phone with Sherlock, which I thought was one of the saddest in the episode. I have no clue what the “Redbeard” reference means (I mean, if I had to guess, I would say it was the name Sherlock chose when he wanted to be a pirate, perhaps the mighty dread Captain Redbeard, and then other children at school made fun of him or perhaps worse, joined his pirate crew and then had a mutiny and kicked him out, leaving him all alone again and dashing his hopes of piracy—and friends—forever, until he met John), but I think Mycroft feels that no matter what happens from this point on, John and Mary are going to doom Sherlock, and Mycroft can’t bear to be there and watch it happen. They can destroy Sherlock by shutting him out of their relationship, they can destroy him by letting him in. These goldfish own Sherlock no matter what they do, and sooner or later some psychopath is going to take advantage of that, and it’s never been so clear to Mycroft that caring is a disadvantage.
And then, completely outside of the universe, there’s the practicalities of the filming situation. All the actors seem to like working on Sherlock. It’s become a family affair for many of them. Martin Freeman loves working with Amanda Abbington. Nobody wants to leave. And the writers certainly don’t want any of their precious actors to leave. And that is the beauty and the awful tragedy of having Mark Gatiss playing Mycroft: his character can die, and he can still be involved in the show as a writer. Hell, even as an actor in scenes taking place in Sherlock’s head (similar to Irene).
So yeah. If someone has to die—and I desperately hope that is not the case!—then I think it may very well be Mycroft. And that makes me want to sob.
So I wanted to go on and on about the brilliance that was “The Sign of Three,” and how it was one of my favorite things ever, making Sherlock’s characterization explicit in a way that had never been done before. I adored it, I adored everything about it, and I probably will be able to post those thoughts later and look upon this episode with happiness. (In the meantime, as usual
earlgreytea68 accurately summarizes all my thoughts.)But right now, guys, I need to share my fears. I’m just so terrified about what’s going to happen at the end of “His Last Vow” that I can’t focus on the squee of “The Sign of Three” (though I’m re-watching it obsessively, especially the drunk scenes). Because I don’t see a good way out of this episode for us.
I’d like to stress that this is all speculation, but I have seen the 30-second trailer for “His Last Vow” and reference it.
This is the sad state of the situation with this show: we don’t have a ton of major characters to work with here. And the writers have decided to conclude each series with a semi-tragic and dramatic cliffhanger. If anybody can think of a suitably tragic cliffhanger that doesn’t involve killing off one of our beloved and precious characters, please for the love of God speak up now. Because I can’t think of a good one. Which means that one of the characters may in fact die in “His Last Vow.” Obviously, I hope fervently to be proven wrong because I adore everyone and will be devastated if this happens.
Just for reference, let’s list the major characters of Sherlock whose deaths would have an emotional impact on fans: Sherlock, John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, Mary, and Mycroft (Moriarty has already been killed). (I see Donovan, Anderson, and Anthea as more minor characters whose deaths wouldn’t have that massively significant emotional impact.) Of those, the first two are immune for obvious reasons. And now I’m going to argue that the next three are also safe, for this reason alone: the locations of importance they’re tied to.
Mrs. Hudson provides access to 221B. Also I think the writers just adore her, and so much light would be lost if she died. Lestrade—well, they’re not killing off Rupert Graves; that’s just not happening. But he also provides access to Scotland Yard. Molly provides access to Bart’s morgue. Of those, Molly is the most easily replaceable—but I just can’t see them killing her, not after making her such a fan favorite. I don’t like the look of that arc.
And now Mary. Let’s have a show of hands, everyone who thinks Mary isn’t going to die in this episode. *crickets* Nobody? Yeah, that’s what I thought. And that’s also why I think the writers won’t kill her, especially now that pregnancy is an option. They just love messing with our expectations. Plus, we just got to know (and, for many of us, adore) Mary. I know that she dies in canon (confusingly and offscreen), but the writers change things about canon all the time. What a completely wasted opportunity and dynamic if Mary were to die so soon. She has such beautiful chemistry with John (of course) and Sherlock (so lovely), and how often does that happen? Keeping her on would indicate continuing to go down a new road for these writers whom we know never like to sit on their laurels. Everything is change and development with them.
But Mycroft. Oh, my darling. Mycroft is the reason I tried this show in the first place, well before I had any idea who Benedict Cumberbatch was. I was just minding my own business in Harry Potter fandom and ignoring the many Sherlock fanfics that kept popping up, until I saw the name “Mycroft Holmes” in one of them, which I found intriguing. I’d never before heard (or seen in any adaptation) that Sherlock Holmes had a brother—an older one, a smarter one—and that idea completely fascinated me.
I was hooked on this show the moment Sherlock said, “We’ll start with the riding crop” and smiled so cheekily, but I started to love it the moment Mycroft said, “I worry about him—constantly.” And every interaction between the Holmes brothers since that moment has been better and better. Holmescest has become something of an addiction to me.
But it must be acknowledged that Mycroft is the deus ex machina of this series. He’s been compared to Dumbledore, and I think that is apt: as long as Mycroft exists, with his resources and power, Sherlock can be extracted from almost any difficulty. Mycroft is also a great device for bringing Sherlock cases of international importance.
I think their relationship has come to an impasse, and this entire show—not just this series—has been building on that to get to this point. From the second Mycroft says, “I worry about him—constantly” but then tells Sherlock that “Caring is not an advantage,” there has been a disconnect in Mycroft’s characterization that has not yet been explained.
I think the brothers are more alike than even they realize. Sherlock is an extremely emotionally repressed man who is redeemed by his love for John (and John’s for him), and I think Mycroft is the same, except instead of John he has his little brother. The world might be filled with goldfish, but Mycroft does love his brother, even if he has strange ways of showing it sometimes. Sure, he might like to see Sherlock get beaten up a bit here and there, just your regular bit of Serbian torture, but in the end Mycroft will do what it takes to extract him from a situation that, really, Sherlock got everyone into by flirting with Moriarty. Mycroft will always extract Sherlock from any situation because for so long, all they had was each other.
Can you imagine what hell it must have been for Mycroft growing up all alone with nobody but his ordinary parents for company? And then he got a little companion. Whom he thought was an idiot. Who maybe is an idiot in comparison to Mycroft, but is a genius when compared to the rest of the world.
In “The Empty Hearse,” the brothers finally reach that impasse I talked about earlier. Mycroft’s position is that it’s pointless to care about other people—ordinary people—because they will drag you down, become a liability, use you up and leave you worse than before, and in his job, liabilities must be kept to the minimum. Mycroft feels that Sherlock should also adopt this belief—he’s been drilling it into Sherlock for ages. Over the course of the series, Sherlock has slowly come to adopt the position that having “Caring is not an advantage” as your motto dooms you to a life of unhappiness, makes you lonely, means there’s something wrong with you. Sherlock’s seen how much his life has been enriched by genuinely caring about John and the other members of his little adopted family, and all he wants for his brother is to be happy.
I think that all Mycroft wants for his brother is to be safe. Mycroft’s seen—we’ve all seen, now, after “The Sign of Three”—exactly how soft Sherlock is, how easily he can be hurt, and it terrifies Mycroft. Moriarty’s already manipulated Sherlock into throwing away two years of his life by using three disadvantages to get at him and hurt him. Mycroft sees John and Mary getting married and thinks he can see the future, which Sherlock also dreads but bravely tries to ignore: domestic bliss between the happy couple, with no place for Sherlock, who’s left out in the cold, lonely again. Everyone, even Mrs. Hudson, thinks that’s how it will end up—except John and Mary seem determined not to let that happen. Only time will tell who’s right. Mycroft dreads that for Sherlock, having loved and lost will be worse than never having loved at all. And you know what? Looking at Sherlock’s face as he realizes there’s no dance partner for him and leaves the wedding early, I fear Mycroft might be right.
Which brings us to “His Last Vow.” Because Sherlock has married himself into Mary and John’s relationship, promising to do whatever it takes, forever and always, to keep them safe. He didn’t need to vow that; everyone already knew. But I’ll bet you that one Charles Augustus Magnussen finds that little vow to be fascinating, especially in light of how deeply disturbed Mary and Sherlock were, how easily they coordinated, how quickly they acted when John was in the bonfire. It’s clear to me that Magnussen (“CAM”) is blackmailing Mary, though I can’t guess the details or extent. I don’t believe Mary is evil, though. How far does that vow extend, one might ask, if one were a psychopath who turns even the stomach of Sherlock Holmes.
Well, we already know: Sherlock’s already been prepared to give his life to stop Moriarty, who was threatening his friends. But it’s easy to sacrifice yourself to save your friends, to selflessly throw away two years of your own life. I’m sure it’s much harder to make that decision between choosing to save someone you love over someone else you love.
So that is what I think will happen in “His Last Vow.” Sherlock will have to choose, and it will be an impossible decision. Choose between John and Mary? Or John/Mary and Mycroft? Or someone else? And one outcome is that Mycroft may end up dying because of that decision. Choosing to sacrifice himself to save Sherlock having to make the decision? Or Sherlock having to put his vow to the test, choosing between John+Mary and his own brother? I don’t know. I don’t want to know. But I fear something terrible is on the horizon.
I can tell from Mycroft’s scene on the treadmill and on the phone with Sherlock, which I thought was one of the saddest in the episode. I have no clue what the “Redbeard” reference means (I mean, if I had to guess, I would say it was the name Sherlock chose when he wanted to be a pirate, perhaps the mighty dread Captain Redbeard, and then other children at school made fun of him or perhaps worse, joined his pirate crew and then had a mutiny and kicked him out, leaving him all alone again and dashing his hopes of piracy—and friends—forever, until he met John), but I think Mycroft feels that no matter what happens from this point on, John and Mary are going to doom Sherlock, and Mycroft can’t bear to be there and watch it happen. They can destroy Sherlock by shutting him out of their relationship, they can destroy him by letting him in. These goldfish own Sherlock no matter what they do, and sooner or later some psychopath is going to take advantage of that, and it’s never been so clear to Mycroft that caring is a disadvantage.
And then, completely outside of the universe, there’s the practicalities of the filming situation. All the actors seem to like working on Sherlock. It’s become a family affair for many of them. Martin Freeman loves working with Amanda Abbington. Nobody wants to leave. And the writers certainly don’t want any of their precious actors to leave. And that is the beauty and the awful tragedy of having Mark Gatiss playing Mycroft: his character can die, and he can still be involved in the show as a writer. Hell, even as an actor in scenes taking place in Sherlock’s head (similar to Irene).
So yeah. If someone has to die—and I desperately hope that is not the case!—then I think it may very well be Mycroft. And that makes me want to sob.
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 05:08 am (UTC)And I see your point. Without Mycroft, Sherlock is back in irritating and often dangerous position of not being able to take such big risks, having to think ahead and accept losses/unsolved cases in order to protect the people he cares about, and that's something that could move the show forward very much in s4 (WHICH WILL HAPPEN I ACCEPT NO OTHER OPTION), rather than letting his actual crime-solving stagnate into a comfortable job. We've grown to sort-of-love Mycroft, but also see hints of the dfepth Sherlock's real relationship with him, and the emotional effects on Sherlock would be devestating - and exactly what he did to John, just for poetic irony, and the writers would love that :(
Am with you with almost everything here; I don't know if Sherlock will have to choose or if Mycroft will take the decision out of his hands (as big brothers are want to do) but Mycroft will do anything to keep Sherlock safe, and that could so easily kill him.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 05:18 am (UTC)I mean, it's an intelligent theory, and I hadn't considered it. BUT NO. I can't accept that! Christ, I'd rather Mary go if it came down to that. Not Mycroft!
The only thing I can think of to refute that is that it seems like Mark Gatiss really likes playing him and won't write himself out of the show. I'm just going to be over here in the corner, crying and clinging desperately to that belief.
:(((((
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 05:33 am (UTC)I can't believe I'm getting slightly teary just reading your post BUT it's not your fault - I've actually spent the day with a sense of growing trepidation worrying about exactly the same thing, caused by:
- the trailer warning that if Sherlock goes against CAM, he'll be going against Mycroft
- the sudden bump in Mycroft/Sherlock interaction which is suddenly taking on horribly ominous overtones
- a half-remembered interview where BC says something like Mycroft clearly cares about Sherlock, but does Sherlock care about Mycroft? Maybe we'll see this season.
I've already said to a friend that if anything happens to Mycroft I WILL NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. I can't even swear I'll stop watching, but it will never be the same.
Just... DON'T EVEN FUCKING GO THERE, SHOW.
no subject
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!
no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 07:34 am (UTC)(yes, wallowing in wildly speculative angst here) (of course I don't think John will actually die.. but it could be cliffy...)
no subject
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?
(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-08 05:42 am (UTC)But Mycroft... that's ingenius, really. I'm preparing to have my heart ripped out. Now you've got me nervous. Well done, you! We'll see. *bites nails*
no subject
Date: 2014-01-08 09:58 pm (UTC)I was already very, very afraid HLV was going to be packed to the rafters with suspense to make up for the first two episodes and now I'm even more so.
Just, Jesus no...