Magnussen = creeptastic

[shadowfireflame]

Ooooommmmmggggg, the deleted scene from Sherlock: His Last Vow has been posted online, and it's great. Cut for the spoiler-phobic:

It has Magnussen being extra special creepy and sexually assaulting Sherlock while he's semi-conscious in the hospital:

See the brilliant ariandevere's transcript and marta_bee's entry on this for a great analysis.

It's such a fantastic scene, I'm devastated that it wasn't included, though I can see why, if it's giving the game away that Mary could be a villain, or just superfluous after Mary does the same thing by visiting a semi-conscious Sherlock in the hospital, getting up close to him, and threatening him while he's powerless to resist. Or perhaps they didn't want to imply that Mycroft allowed the hospital's security to be lax enough to allow Magnussen inside Sherlock's room unimpeded.

Also, this line might be a bit too on the nose (from ariandevere's transcript): "Having shot you, the woman you know as Mary Watson left without killing me...which is odd, because that was the reason she came." That is odd, isn't it?

But daaaaaamn, so creepy. He doesn't kiss Sherlock's hand, he actually licks/sucks on it, omg omg. I like it because I think up until then, Magnussen has really only sexually intimidated Lady Smallwood (by licking her face). With Sherlock and John, he pees in their fireplace and flicks John's face, but neither of those are necessarily sexual; this, however, really, really was, showing that Magnussen has nothing against using sexual intimidation on men as well (although it's unfortunate that he compared his hands to a woman's--that said, Sherlock's hands really are beautiful).

And Magnussen saying that Sherlock would get used to Magnussen's wet touch...wow. "The invasion of your personal space isn't just a one-time thing but will be continuing." How often do we get to see a man threatened with this and have the implications include sexual assault?

And was there an implication that Magnussen could have Sherlock's hands cut off or something?!?! Horrifying.

There are also some great touches in the reminders that people care about Sherlock enough to send him flowers while he's in the hospital: Scotland Yard giving him carnations, awwwwww (though...the fact that they're "struggling" is...possibly not good), and Irene giving him a rose, and C Block, Pentonville giving him a black wreath, lololol, that is precious and actually quite funny.

I very much hope that people will write fic of this moment!

EDIT: Yesss, splix has written a fantastic story that will make you shudder: Wet to My Touch (3,017 words)

Comments

[andrea-deer.livejournal.com]

That scene was so creepy, but it gave me so many plot bunnies D:

[splix.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I loved this scene. LOOOOOOVED. So pleased they released it, and I too will be waiting for the fic. Might have to write it if nobody else steps up to the plate. Yum!!

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

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.

— Stats Britain (@StatsBritain) October 20, 2014

Apparently it works with "Sherlock" too...

[tenderly-wicked.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was creepy. In a very, very twisted way.

(frozen)

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

I can't bring myself to watch it after reading Ariane DeVere's transcript, and wow, your explication is great and so so creepy. My god. I still don't understand anything about that last episode, but individual moments from it are brilliant and horrible. Thank you!

[unsentimentalf]

It is a great scene. I've got some Magnussen fic on the back boiler and this definitely helps.

[sams-star.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for posting this! I hope you don't mind I friended you awhile ago--I've just gotten into the BBC Sherlock series in the last year or so, and I've really enjoyed your posts!

[smills47.livejournal.com]

So glad I popped over, I had no idea this scene existed. Thank you so much for posting the link!

Also for triggering a brainwave, Richard III (which it appears both the guys have now done!) and CAM. I've seen only one Richard III, Hume Cronyn's many and many a year ago, but it was unforgettable. He was like a slug, but... a sexy slug. Whereas CAM only has the slug part down. Must think about this some more.