Episode 17: Wedding

7 thoughts on “Episode 17: Wedding”

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  meiringal January 6, 2014 at 8:49 pm

  One thing I liked, and one I didn’t, on Sign of Three:

  What I really liked:
  Ostensibly a comedic episode, TSoT is actually the most melancholy episodes to date. I loved that Moftiss tackled head-on the concept of personal loss and “death” through life’s ongoing transitions. In Reichenbach, the loss was an overt death (we assumed), and we saw John grieve in the aftermath of a sudden shock. In Sign, we also saw Sherlock deal with loss and grief, but in this case in an anticipatory way. We know Sherlock looked forward to reuniting with John after the Great Hiatus. And, given Sherlock’s willingness to speak openly of his love for his friend, at some point between “Alone is all I have” and the Best Man’s speech, he’s been willing to acknowledge to himself that he’s not the loner that Mycroft is – having experienced affection, he now knows the sharp sting of solitude. But now he’s poised to lose what he most cherishes…for all John and Mary’s words of denial, he fully expects to be shunted aside, and everything that Mrs. Hudson and Mycroft tell him of marriage’s transitions support his not completely unfounded fears. When Mary references Sherlock’s desire to get the wedding over with, she’s bang on right….Sherlock is dreading not just the wedding, but the future loss represented by the marriage, and so in a very human way wishes to hasten to the end. Death is loss, but so is…life, Moftissson implies, and the saddest moment of the episode is of course the end, when Sherlock shoulders into his Belstaff and walks alone into the night, the bright lights of the party behind him. Now, given that – big picture – Moftiss has said the friendship between Sherlock and John is the “beating heart” of the series I don’t think it’s truly the end, but what a delicate essay on the nature of human relationships.

  What I really didn’t like:
  Soppy Sherlock seems to have forgotten that he’s the most observant man in the world. I have such a hard time believing that, after “reading” Mary as a “Liar” and with “secrets” (not to mention the secret tattoo, which could have been a really funny throwaway comment in TSoT) Sherlock didn’t take the minimum effort to do a deep-dive on the background of the orphan Miss Morstan. He seems to take her on face value because of John’s love, instead of doing what he does best as a guardian and “watchdog” – speak softly but carry a big dossier. And what a wonderful episode this could have been with Sherlock “being Sherlock”….because how do you tell your friend, whom you’ve just gutted by faking your own death, that the light of his life may not be all she appears? You would see Sherlock having to weigh the repercussions: by doing so you could drive in the fatal wedge of the relationship..but in *not* doing so you open the door to John’s future heartbreak or worse. How many of us have been in that situation where our BFFs are totally infatuated with someone about whom you have doubts…now *show* us how that plays out when the observer is the Greatest Detective? And what an interesting counterpoint we could have had to the scene in S1 where Sherlock so caustically says something like “aren’t I saving her time, doing her a favour?” when it comes to popping the illusion of a relationship?
  Sorry for the length….

  • 

    admin Post author January 6, 2014 at 9:59 pm

    What a terrific comment and no apologies on length needed. We love to chew over such thoughtful comments. As to your critique, this has occurred to me as well, but this is what I think will be addressed and revealed in the final episode. Sherlock is perceptive and it seems probable that Sherlock’s vow to protect both or all three of John’s new family reflects information we viewers have not been shown (the nature of Mary’s true background/deception) since the focus of this episode was, as you pointed out, Sherlock’s preparation and grieving of the death of his relationship with John. It may also be the case that Sherlock is aware of superficial elements of Mary’s background/deception but has not prodded further than necessary out of respect for John’s wishes and possible happiness (i.e. what he won’t know won’t hurt him). The reason could be something new that Sherlock is trying out as part of his attempts to grow and consider the needs and desires of those he cares about. It could also be the case that Sherlock knows partially what Mary is about but that his deductions of her have been clouded by his growing acceptance of sentiment into his life. This is another side of growth and change. As he incorporates new ways of thinking into his existing system, this may lead to conflict and mistakes until he is able to better determine when to rely on reasoning and when to rely on the feelings and needs of others (much like the rest of us must struggle with).

    All this is to say, I think Sherlock knows more about Mary than we realize and that his decision to take certain steps or not represents another element of his character’s development this series.

    -Shannon

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  sphinxyvic January 6, 2014 at 9:52 pm

  In some ways I see what Alex was saying in her email, the first two were very fanservice-y and light, but if you think about the first two series, the same thing is true, if to a lesser extent.

  ASIP and Blind Banker were much more lightweight and goofy than the seriousness of Great Game. ASIB and Hound were, in some ways, much more lighthearted (though they had serious moments) than Reichenbach. So really this is just a slightly more extreme version of that. The light and dark are going to be even more contrasted in this series than previously. And quite frankly, all the silliness and fanservice aside, there were some quite tense moments and a lot of edginess in both of our new eps.

  Also, I’ve been saying this on my Tumblr, so I’ll say it here. I am all about the character journey of Sherlock Holmes in this series. From S1 to S2 and now S3, the writers and Benedict have been taking Sherlock from impossible to slightly less impossible, to almost human. The two years he was away has obviously humanized him even more. If Reichenbach hadn’t happened, he’d still be being an asshole, annoying everyone and being completely unself-aware.

  That two years away from John — where he couldn’t rest against that solidness, that humanity of John’s, where he had to deal with many people and many bad experiences — has made him think more before he speaks, made him see the people who do matter most to him in a much more aware way, and see himself with a bit more wry resignation. Also, having returned to find that John did not stay in one place, but moved on, was the final catalyst for him to really begin to change. He figures out fairly quickly, that if he wants to keep any of John’s attention, he needs to change and change fast.

  So yeah, this is not the Sherlock of the first two seasons, either show or character, but shows and characters that stay the same become predictable and boring after a while, rather like breathing.

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  cryptic_answers January 9, 2014 at 6:21 pm

  Thank you all so much for the hard work you do on the podcast. It is so much fun to listen to and I just love hearing what all of you are thinking and feeling. I don’t know anyone personally who I can talk to in any depth about Sherlock and I love that the obsessiveness of the podcast mirrors my own!

  The only thing no one mentioned that I absolutely adored about the episode was Sherlock composing and playing the waltz for John and Mary’s first dance. It was so poignant and beautiful, something only he could do. And I am going to pretend that it was entirely in character. So there!

  Thank you again.

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