Thanks for the signal-boost! I'm glad you like it.
On the question of why Mary didn't shoot Magnussen, I've always thought (as in, from my first viewing) that she never meant to. She's a trained assassin, and if she wants to surely she has several less dramatic ways than by breaking into his office (shooting him from a distance, perhaps). But the real reason: as long as she thought he had actual evidence on her, and as long as he wasn't threatening her in a specific way that made her think the danger of being outed was imminent, shooting him just wouldn't get her anything. The evidence against her still exists. If he had any friends or family, she's have just made herself a more specific target by someone who's actually mad rather than calculating and cold. She's called the police to look into the man's life, including his belongings. Basically, as long as the blackmailer has something on you that would survive his death, going after him doesn't solve your problem and actually makes it worse in quite a few ways. As long as Magnussen was content to "own" her rather than destroy her, if Mary's smart I don't see why she'd go into his office to kill him.
Intimidation, on the other hand. Or reconnaissance, maybe scaring him so badly she lets him know what exactly he has on her so she can plan her next move. Those make sense to me as goals. If Sherlock walked into that scene she can't just let him walk out without making it make her look weak (and so bullyable by Magnussen). I don't think she shot him out of malice, but because she felt like any other choice would have compromised her and possibly painted him (and John) as her "allies" which would have been dangerous to him. Interestingly, I don't think this helps her case because it's exactly the cold "caring is not an advantage" line of thought that Sherlock is supposed to be growing out of (at least as I read the show). I tend to think of Mary as Mycroft on steroids: willing to risk the lives of the "little" people, and in this moment that's Sherlock. So for me at least this scene was about showing us just how dangerous that kind of cold calculation was.
I do fear, though, that I'm putting more thought into this, and giving her more credit, than Team Moffat are! Because if Magnussen is a good blackmailer he should know that Mary wouldn't go after him, and painting her this way seems to work against his ultimate goal of using her to control Mycroft which relies on John and Sherlock thinking Mary's worth working to protect. Sometimes I think I put way too much thought into this show. Reminds me of that StatsBritain tweet:
Doctor Who fan fiction is 254% more thought out than the Doctor Who tv series.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-11-02 06:17 pm (UTC)On the question of why Mary didn't shoot Magnussen, I've always thought (as in, from my first viewing) that she never meant to. She's a trained assassin, and if she wants to surely she has several less dramatic ways than by breaking into his office (shooting him from a distance, perhaps). But the real reason: as long as she thought he had actual evidence on her, and as long as he wasn't threatening her in a specific way that made her think the danger of being outed was imminent, shooting him just wouldn't get her anything. The evidence against her still exists. If he had any friends or family, she's have just made herself a more specific target by someone who's actually mad rather than calculating and cold. She's called the police to look into the man's life, including his belongings. Basically, as long as the blackmailer has something on you that would survive his death, going after him doesn't solve your problem and actually makes it worse in quite a few ways. As long as Magnussen was content to "own" her rather than destroy her, if Mary's smart I don't see why she'd go into his office to kill him.
Intimidation, on the other hand. Or reconnaissance, maybe scaring him so badly she lets him know what exactly he has on her so she can plan her next move. Those make sense to me as goals. If Sherlock walked into that scene she can't just let him walk out without making it make her look weak (and so bullyable by Magnussen). I don't think she shot him out of malice, but because she felt like any other choice would have compromised her and possibly painted him (and John) as her "allies" which would have been dangerous to him. Interestingly, I don't think this helps her case because it's exactly the cold "caring is not an advantage" line of thought that Sherlock is supposed to be growing out of (at least as I read the show). I tend to think of Mary as Mycroft on steroids: willing to risk the lives of the "little" people, and in this moment that's Sherlock. So for me at least this scene was about showing us just how dangerous that kind of cold calculation was.
I do fear, though, that I'm putting more thought into this, and giving her more credit, than Team Moffat are! Because if Magnussen is a good blackmailer he should know that Mary wouldn't go after him, and painting her this way seems to work against his ultimate goal of using her to control Mycroft which relies on John and Sherlock thinking Mary's worth working to protect. Sometimes I think I put way too much thought into this show. Reminds me of that StatsBritain tweet:
Apparently it works with "Sherlock" too...