Crows Blue

Walking with his hand tucked into Watson's elbow so they can't be jostled apart on the streets of London, giving Mrs Hudson a hug when she's overwhelmed and upset, giving Inspector Lestrade a slap on the shoulder when he finally gets some deduction on his own, pestering Mycroft because they're brothers and that's just what you do to siblings so they don't think you've forgotten about them

every single person who reblogs this

every

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there are over 128,000 notes and i still got one

i reblogged this less than 2 minutes ago

im scared

First of all,

whAT IN THE ACTUAL FU-

My top are Musgrave Ritual, Wisteria Lodge, and Silverblaze(reasoning and more below)

Mutual tag :D @mothusingtheinternet and anyone else who wants to participate please I really love hearing everyone's opinions!!

Musgrave: its one of the only episodes I've cried to and its mostly because of (duh) the letters but also when Sherlock got called a robot I could not handle that man, too close to home jesus. The Adventure is one of my favorites and its balanced between all 3 members of the pod. Also sherls birthday let's go!!! (Bonus that duckmorganduck drew it cause theyre my fav sherlock and co artist and I showed like everyone I knew it)

Wisteria: I listened to this on a road trip during summer with the window down and I live in MT so road trips here are always really pretty so I have like a core memory with this ep. Also the story and Adventure was so good I kept cornering people to talk about it lol.

we'll need her (her specifically) to be in danger at some point so the boys can worry about her :) --- OP's tags.

GREE is almost definitely next.

Mariana is known for speaking any language the story needs her to.

The Greek interpreter in GREE gets put through a rough time.

And when trying to flesh out his character, there's this urge to characterize him as being secretly ashamed, or at least upset about that in some way. Cause he has to have SOME negative feelings about it, right? How could he be happy like this?

remus fan characterizations are so interesting to me, because idk if we're ever going to have him canonically as complex as any other side (which is... unfortunate, but i digress)

one of my favorite ways of fleshing out his character is making him, in a way, a narrative foil to janus.

like, janus' whole canon thing (at least when first introduced) is repression. putting up walls, pushing thomas to lie to others and himself, using shame (mostly from patton) as a tool to keep thomas safe. janus admits that he is partially responsible for thomas staying closeted as long as he did, and he did so to keep thomas protected. janus' methods are considered immoral, sure, but the purpose of his deception is to shield thomas from unpleasant truths about himself and the world around him.

remus' role in many fan interpretations (and maybe in canon too? idk it's harder to tell) is STAUNCHLY anti-repression. in the first like 10 minutes of us knowing of his existence, he SAYS "repression very bad indeed." denial and shame are what caused the twins to "split" in the first place, to have creativity be simultaneously permitted and forbidden. it's what made him intrusive, which makes his role almost require him to revel in the filth of those forbidden thoughts. he MUST indulge in those thoughts, because otherwise thomas would be so plain, so stunted, so BORING, that he wouldn't be him at all.

(sidetone: i love the concept of remus being the first to truly recognize and accept thomas' queerness. he is the first step to thomas unlearning biases and realizing uncomfortable truths about himself, even if the thoughts make thomas anxious or shameful. okay back to it)

i also think this is why WTIT is so important to remus' depth as a character, because even with the semi comedic tone of the episode, it ends when logan is suddenly confronted with his insecurities, the quiet part said out loud. remus COULD just be doing this to mess with lo, or get him to "go orange" or whatever, but i believe this is remus trying to "help" in his own way. he just wants thomas to be honest with himself, and that means making the sides look at their deepest wounds in the face.

janus tries to resolve conflicts by avoiding them until they are impossible to ignore, and controlling the narrative as much as possible for an intended outcome.

while remus doesn't resolve the conflicts, he stirs shit up and has a neon sign that says "HEY YOU'RE IGNORING SHIT DON'T DO THAT DUMBASS" and say things that shouldn't be said in polite company.

to be what thomas needs him to be, remus HAS to be loud, violent, unwanted, demented, gross, scary. he HAS to be the worst of the worst and enjoy it, if only to show thomas that he can.

Hi! Pretty much what it says on the tin. After posting my proposed timeline for the pod, I was talking with another fan (@eardefenders) where they've been certain that they remember a scene strongly implying that Sherlock is younger than Watson, and thus he has to be 36 years old or younger.

Since some math work shows some problems with this (to summarize: thanks to some other fixed points/timespans, Sherlock would be very young when he was bullied at school and expelled, based on being there in 1999. See main link here for the full breakdown, with Sherlock and school specific business here), well...

What else was there to do but actually write in to Joel Emery about whether that was the intention? Sherlock going through all that from 8-12 years old at the latest?

In short: He answered very positively about the timeline generally (will post the reply here later if I get the okay to do so, possibly the full email), and he genuinely asked if there were any spots in the pod material where it was stated/implied that Sherlock was younger than Watson.

So, in reply to that, that memory from @eardefenders is the main lead I have. I don't personally remember anything like this, and I don't have access to mailbag material to check everything myself. No one else I've talked to, bonus material access or not, recalls something like this.

I've run a keyword search through the automated transcripts from the spoken parts of the main episodes (via podscripts) using "young" like the scene is supposed to contain, but no relevant returns. Same for similar terms with "oldest", "eldest", "younger", etc. No dice there, and naturally mailbag episodes aren't included to be searched.

Got the same question posted to the subreddit, so any déjà vu from seeing this text before is probably from there.

eardefenders has been relistening to the show to double-check, since there might be something missing from the automated transcripts/wasn't included on official ones due to improvisation, in addition to the automated search not including mailbags...

But I got permission to post here about whether anyone else recalls what they're describing and can narrow down where the scene may be from.

My personal inclination is that (if the gist of the convo is accurate) it's probably a mailbag, since if it was in the main episodes I think we as the general audience would have more people recalling seeming confirmation of the age order for the trio?

eardefenders says rather that they think they remember it being in the cold open for one of the episodes where Watson is just sort of rambling, and Sherlock's there.

So, to the details of that scene that we can't concretely identify at the moment:

Watson was waffling on about something and he mentioned getting certain references because he's a millennial (or something like that).

Then, Sherlock said something in reply and Watson says something to the effect of "Well, I'm not young like you"

Update: Changed description below

Other relevant info: eardefenders said that they haven't actually listened to any episodes past the end of HOUND, and that they haven't heard any mailbags since Mailbag 15 or 16.

So, if this is somewhere in the pod material, it has to be in episodes/mailbags from before those cutoff points.

Since we have publicly available transcripts for the first four mailbags (also via @eardefenders), and I checked those, that leaves Mailbags 5-16, max.

As for the episodes, that's technically everything up to the end of HOUND.

New info

@eardefenders has now remembered/narrowed down/added a few more details, and changed their description of the potential scene considerably. Mariana is now in the conversation, so if this is out there as described, that narrows things down considerably.

Does anyone recall anything like this version now?

As follows, the new information (slightly paraphrased from original communication):

It's from an older episode. Sherlock is mostly joining in on Mariana's teasing of Watson as this is when he was more awkward in their dynamic

It was during one of Watson's rambling cold opens, with Mariana and Sherlock as part of the conversation. Watson says something, and it's now Mariana who's like "huh", prompting Watson to start talking about how he's like a millennial or the oldest. Thus, of course he gets the reference, not them. This response is a single line, nothing too long.

Also described/summarized as: Sherlock and Mariana are teasing Watson for being old, with the tone being "we are younger". Watson makes reference to being the oldest, but doesn't outright say "I'm the oldest"

Still ostensibly not a mailbag thing, as originally claimed. I've been crtl+f'ing all Mariana lines in the earlier episodes (up to Silver Blaze, then tossing in Case of Identity and some others I don't relisten to as often just in case), and nothing matches up to this so far.

It was discussed in the smaller Discord group that the lines might not be in the official transcript as sometimes the audio product doesn't match. However, I find that unlikely in this instance since I've only seen that be the case for single-person wording/phrasing changes or short additions by Watson.

When it comes to multiple characters speaking, I've never seen examples of more substantial interactions not being in the transcript (since the cast records separately, it's not like they can improvise replies back and forth in the moment). From what I've seen, the only time that significant speaking time isn't present in the transcripts is how Watson's intro is (still) missing from the start of HOUND.

(Happy for anyone to point out counterexamples if I'm incorrect on that!)

Even so, the automated podscripts search is based on audio input from spoken lines, and would've picked up "millennial" or "reference" (both of which I search through the hits for).

If it is a mailbag, then having Mariana present does hypothetically narrow things down since she doesn't appear as much there. From here via @itsnobodysproblem, the "Mariana edition" mailbags are #19 and #20,

(Far as I can tell: for the more general ones featuring questions directed at Mariana, that's Mailbag #5 (For her and Watson: Are you partial to karaoke? If so, what songs?), and Mailbag #6 (asking a question in Spanish about Sherlock and John))

This line from the Beryl Coronet part 2 confirms Sherlock and Watson as millennials and Mariana as gen Z, but I feel like using it to confirm Sherlock age relation to John would be misusing evidence. Since the line that John is more senior than sherlock is most likely discussing the company.

Our society does not produce un-traumatized neurodivergent people. It does not produce un-traumatized queer people. Even people who are not touched by the entities before being hired, like Martin, are traumatized by virtue of living in our world.

sort've- the post you can interact with to make it happen is here :3

Look at this!

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

Sherlocks conversation with John during the second part of the Gloria Scott has interesting implications between that and the Musgraves Ritual.

SHERLOCK: I’ll crush him. I’ll ruin the image of his father. I’ll- bugger! Stupid case! Stupid!

SHERLOCK: Would it crush you? If you found out something about your father, that was.. bad?

In both the Gloria Scott and the Musgrave Ritual. Someone (Victor and Sherlock) discover that a major role model (Lionel Trever and Mr. Musgrave) has done something horrible (what happened with the Gloria Scott and the abuse that Reginald went through) which led to the original person being harmed by a victim of what the mentor did (Hunter and Reginald).

How does Sherlock feel at the end of the Musgraves Ritual?

Riding the high of the fantastic run with The Stockbroker’s Clerk. These last few weeks, I have completely loved the direction that the story has taken, and the finale was executed marvelously. Fantastic adventure all around, great dialogue, character moments, action, wider plot advancement, etc. etc. All of which has really reinvigorated my feelings for the show, along with some older favorite episodes, and has made me reflect again on the lingering oddities with The Musgrave Ritual.

Now that we have a close example of them fully firing on all cylinders, it’s made me reflect again…What was the point of writing this entire bullying subplot, and Reginald the way they did?

Is there anything that could be missing here?

Namely, one thing that I’ve been thinking over for a bit since laying out the reasons for my dissatisfaction with the episode are the details that, at least to me, indicate that Reginald will have to come back in some fashion.

There are three main reasons for this:

Reginald is closely tied to Sherlock’s early life as a former schoolmate.

He’s not just a one-off client, but rather fundamentally tied to Sherlock’s past in the same manner that Victor Trevor is. Any future return to discussing that time of his life (such as with filling in the gaps of the long-awaited family reveal) is now one that he is relevant to, as the architect of a constant barrage of coordinated, gang-like physical harassment that deeply affected Sherlock’s childhood. When his family is finally directly addressed (someone sent him to that school after all, did or didn’t react to what he was going through, was or wasn't told about it, had to be called about runaway attempts)...Those basic details of upbringing, school, parental/sibling relationships, etc., will have to be in connection with what we already know of his early life, and thus Reginald as a significant player.

2. Reginald is the third focal character to be (re)written as involved in finance in a tight string of episodes, and the second where no such connection existed in the original stories.

After Neville St. Clair’s career change in TWIS, I had suspected that they were laying the groundwork for something when they changed the slightly silly canon details to have him instead be jumped and beaten by let's-get-back-to-this-later "very bad men" in finance. Now, we’ve since had that confirmed with the premise of The Stockbroker’s Clerk. Reginald is the second of these chronologically, leading right up to our canonical Stockbroker’s Clerk, and a surprise link to Moriarty’s operation: Hayley Pycroft. Preceding this focus on the deeply rooted financial manipulations and abuses of The Spider himself…old Reginald’s been changed to an “extremely successful” financier. Could it be unconnected? Maybe, but with the last part of our latest episode, it seems too early to dismiss. They could’ve had him working in any other posh career, after all.

3. Joel Emery himself voices Reginald. There is no outside actor’s schedule, input, or sudden lapse in availability to account for. This is a highly unusual departure from the pattern with his previous roles for the show, but on a practical level, it makes the character eminently easy to bring back.

Additionally, I find it curious that the adventure itself was stretched out over a 4-parter at all. The original story is pretty straightforward, and could easily have been slimmed down. The reveal of the titular Ritual chant was instead substantially delayed until Part 3, because it’s so obviously directions/a treasure map that any earlier reveal would’ve necessitated a faster conclusion.

If there was any need to pad an adventure some in order to give more time in production to a future one (as I think was said to be the case somewhere with The Red Circle), then surely the following relatively contained, slower-paced “one of the ones where Watson admits it’s kinda boring” two-parter with The Beryl Coronet would’ve provided a good bit of cushioning?

Rather, I think it’s the most likely explanation this was drawn out on purpose, for what seems to be to give more room to the entirely show-original character conflicts. That background with Reginald, the details of what he did, Sherlock’s emotional beats, that final loaded conversation, choosing to include or not include certain things, all of that took time and effort and editing input to sort out. Why?

Why was it that significant to set up?

To back this up, these are all previous named Joel Emery voice acting roles (prior to Reginald in all parts of The Musgrave Ritual):

(listed on IMbD, and confirmed by me going through the voice casts for all 128 aired episodes. Not included are when he would appear under “Additional Voices”, since those are usually just single lines or crowd scenes.

“Ned”-Silver Blaze (Part Three)

April 22, 2024

“Joe Mason”-Shoscombe Old Place (Part One)

June 24, 2024

“Oliver Sutro”-The Three Gables (Part Two)

December 23, 2024

“Sir Francis Pym”-Wisteria Lodge (Parts Two and Three)

February 17, 2025 and February 24, 2025

“Evan Brackwell”-Charles Augustus Milverton (Part One)

April 21, 2025

“Colonel Emsworth”-The Blanched Soldier (Part Two)

June 23, 2025

“Harley Sylvius”-The Mazarin Stone (Part Three)

August 25, 2025

“D.I Kenneth MacPherson”-The Second Stain (Part Two)

December 8, 2025

Out of these, most are fairly bit characters without much speaking time. Family of clients or people of interest (Evan Brackwell, Colonel Emsworth), people who briefly speak to Sherlock or Watson to help with a case (Ned, Oliver Sutro, Sir Francis Pym), fill in a past bit of their lives (Joe Mason for Watson’s mom’s neighbor) and two purposefully kinda douchey and self-centered mild antagonists (Harley Sylvius and D.I Kenneth MacPherson). Not really any common thread there, and there’s a range of actors who also rotate through for other bit roles, so it seems like he’s not under any practical obligation to step up unless there’s no alternatives/he wants to/what have you.

After scanning through those voice casts lists for the whole series and seeing some patterns, it's mildly surprising to me now that they didn't have, if they weren't gonna go with an outside actor, Adam Jarrell do Reginald since he's done more of this sort of thing with named characters for the pod (and there wouldn't be any conflict with his usual role of Mike Stamford/Stammo here. His family members also crop up a bunch of times across episodes.

What’s interesting to me is that, besides the small proportion of episodes he’s had slighter bigger voice roles in, nearly none of these are for more than a single part. The only exception to this is Sir Francis Pym, who briefly was in Part Two of Wisteria Lodge as well since he was piloting the helicopter everyone was in at the end of Part One.

So, voicing a major character like Reginald for a four-parter is a massive departure from the rest of his vocal work for the series. When I was first mulling over my dissatisfied feelings about the conclusion to this story (to put it mildly), I initially wondered if there might be some connection with the main writer voicing the suddenly redeemed and tragic bully. Some self-aggrandizement sort of thing, or more generously, a mismatch in what came across in the writing due to over-empathizing with the character and the tearful performance given.

But now…I’m starting to wonder if there's some future episode that they absolutely need this character as a lynchpin/"we need an established character to be sympathetic at first and then say/do something ableist and awful" for, and they didn’t want to risk an issue with pressing an outside actor (things like how I heard that Lestrade was meant to have a bigger role in HOUND a few months back, but they had to rely on archival recordings after the actress injured her voice and needed the rest).

If you’re the main writer after all, you’re always going to know your own availability and might push through rough conditions where it’d be rude to ask another person to do so.