Thoughts That Are Completely Unecessary

yeah yeah, i'm doing a second part.

mycroft, oldest sister energy for LIFE dude, i don't think i've ever felt so seen in my life.

that and this portrayal was chef's kiss. max irons you live in my heart. go white boy, go!

this is super unstructured. this is every point that randomly came to me. this ain't a thesis so im not APA7 citing anything.

ok. thoughts.

mycroft is weirdly middle sibling coded. sherlock and bea are the favs, the magical babies that were born a whopping 6-7 years after mycroft was born so yeah, those two were doted on and mycroft is left with a historically fucked recollection of what family dinner actually looked like plus i assume he's just sort of forgotten by his parents sometimes.

but we already talked about mycroft vs silas. mycroft vs cordelia wouldn't do much except i'd say it's oddly similar and very sad that she prefers the other son. the younger son with shenanigans all the days. her own temperament is emulated by the younger son. mycroft is much more of a rule follower, i believe, because he never had the security to be otherwise.

somebody had to be the cushioning. mycroft presents himself like he's a block of tofu, masking so hard my brain hurts. he's the most scared man alive. there's not an ounce of him that even slightly resents his siblings, he just simply believes what silas and cordelia (unintentionally in her case) have presented; they're the more brilliant, most interesting aspect of him. he's constantly seperate, outside his family. i cite the scene in Constantinople where bea visits cordelia and sherlock prior dinner, and somehow mycroft isn't there. constantly on the cusp of his family. fodder, between them and the outside world.

a really rad thing i loved about the show was that they're clear on how biased sherlock is. sherlock's there? his pov is that everybody, apart from james, is a bit of a simpleton (and eventually his father is catagorised in that 'who is a worthy opponent' list). he's remarked on his brilliance, as undisciplined as it is seeing as this is his first case.

we only get to see how smart everybody else is when sherlock's not starring in the scene. that mycroft is insatiable with his observations, equally as deductive, just more aware of the consequences and does not have the same license to gallivant. the man has rent to pay for god's sake.

oh and mycroft's pov, we see lestrade himself thrive a little. street smarts, people could dub, because simply being well read doesn't equate to being smart. mycroft realises that. mycroft is more open to that. mycroft learns that all places have their benefits.

i can't wait for this man to discover that the british empire is in fact, not cool beans. the show barely touches on that subject, but we see the beginnings of mycroft losing faith in a system that was meant to do good, that he's currently a small fish in a big pond and that it'll take more confidence to go unorthodox.

giving his thumbs up for xiao wei to do the ultimate toodles to silas, and betraying the government to save his family is a far cry to the posh posh man who followed bucephalus hodge around, so we love the improvement. plus, you'd think, kids in school get raised on how super duper the british empire was, today, so imagine how bad the propaganda must've been back then. enter scene where mycroft describes his job in the foreign office to james, waving his hand off on all the silly things the british empire caused while james, subtly (god bless donal finn and his acting) is like is this guy for real.

i hope they delve deeper into that in s2. seriously. also i hate the british museum.

i also like how they didn't just say, here's mycroft, completely converted rapscallion with the style of a bond man or whatever. they made mycroft insist to sherlock that he put the key back inside the last ep. it's over, mycroft says. please, mycroft says.

i, too avoid my problems bub. same here.

because this man does this for his family. he knows repercussions. he still has things to lose. he's lived with it his entire life.

years of fear doesn't stop. you do not say toodles to trauma. mycroft holmes is a reserved man who probably sits at the window and wonders why he's been treated as the bravest soldier.

i love this friggin show. im still chewing on thoughts, and they're mostly about him right now.

i'm no stranger to the sherlock holmes universe. it's impossible to meet anybody who is! sherlock holmes is ingrained in everything, so much so that we use it in english as less of a reference and more as an expression.

'no shit sherlock' one might say. but i have a point. stay with me here.

it's common. it's everywhere. so we watch the show and know that sherlock and james are doomed. there's no spoiler alert for that, we know it's doomed and we're given clues on how this will fall apart with matthew parkhill's interpretation of these characters and the choices they make in this season.

the suspense is the how and the why.

now don't get me wrong, i love our boys. the references - james speaking juliet's lines, addressing sherlock as romeo, whatever the hell that scene was when sherlock gets shot and james cradles him etc etc like yeah i ship our dudes so much they did everything BUT kiss (BOOOOOOOOOO) but like sadly that's not my point today.

my point is the entire time we're watching this show we KNOW that our bubs are doomed. that they're friends in a situationship to enemies in situationship. they've made out before. they don't speak of it but everybody knows.

it's toxic.

they're the only ones who understand each other. they resent each other because the other is larger than life or doesn't have moral capacity to care. they can't stop going back because they're lonely people who never felt at home till they were together. ohhhh the similarities vs contradictions.

so naturally as a viewer i was suspicious of everything. my first watch i was like james is lovebombing this man. james is collecting information like he's starved because this boy, this very sheltered boy who lands in prison for funsies is his in to this society where he'll be respected.

james is using sherlock.

but the using and taking advantage vs actually liking someone, can also be not mutually exclusive. co-occuring if you will.

james didn't have to go all the way. my second watch (yes i've watched this show multiple times and continue to do so because it's the only thing keeping me sane thank you), i see him side eye mycroft who yaps about famine like it wasn't devastating for the irish, as if it's like a dead, crusty bug he found in his shoe.

the dismissal of that experience alone. james knew in that moment he got too comfortable with this family. that if he knew what was good for him, he oughta dip.

but here's the thing. nobody quite challenges him like sherlock does. nobody quite disagrees with him, walks in tandem with him, like sherlock does.

(note that the actors themselves talked about how they choreographed each other's reactions to mirror rather than be overly distinct.)

and this is all a game right?

james is curious. so james stays. he's also vaguely fond of sherlock who at the very least shares his intellectual capacity.

again, that does not mean he does not try to benefit off of him. he's fond of him. he's using him. if sherlock dies there's no point. sherlock is a pest for questioning his methods, as unorthodox as he considers them.

he discovered sherlock. sherlock owes him.

he owns sherlock.

but does he? because the last ep, especially, sherlock holds a key with no answers given.

it's a carrot and all the while james is the donkey.

or not. we'll see how much james tags along with sherlock in the second season. whether bea will be the middle man, playing double agent.

i mean she's literally with james because she likes how he doesn't get weighed by fun things like not murdering people etc.

i mean this girl was straight up like hi papa, you abandoned me, are you doing things that are not ethically sound? awesome sauce, i wanna be a part of your world. and then later on with that weapon - oh you're selling something that would commit mass genocide? cool beans. let's make bank.

james is like silas, that the short cut is a short cut and at no cost will he sacrifice himself, only the people around him. i wonder if bea's fondness for james is an act or whether she's drawn to someone who can help her climb the world with that weapon.

unrelated but they were really obvious about bea's daddy issues by the fact that she was attracted to the guy that emulated her father and was particularly explicit about it ("i know you admire him" and that comment about how he's not weighed down by consequence like sherlock is).

SORRY. we're talking about sheriarty. i just needed the bea thing to be clear because we're like bea and sherlock are two sides of the same coin etc etc in the sense they are not fond of rules, but sherlock looks towards the actual greater good and bea's straight up like what can benefit me the most because i lack power as a woman (marginalised no. 2, making james' intro as irish no 1, and no i'm not ranking these things) and this is how i was taught to pertain it.

i think james likes that in her. but she can't match sherlock on the argument of it. doesn't have a mind place he can access. ends with watching sherlock tuck that key back in his pocket with no context given and him realising he's done something irreversible and the choices are chasing this boy or fighting against him and suddenly both things look the same.

i wonder if they'll show him waking up one day realising that at the cost of his corruption he can't find solace in sherlock. that good, kind and punkrocker (superman reference, sorry but i think it's applicable) and that to satiate that addiction he draws more and more attention to himself.

or the horribly sad thing is he can access that mind place but somebody who is earnest and caring has set up a coat already (watson?).

i would like to think that it would be the first point. that sherlock will be alone and pained and in flies watson, who is like the healthier relationship - different to his benefit - and he'll hang a coat in sherlock's mind place.

a renovation of sorts. but it's same spot moriarty had his.

but i don't think we'll witness watson unless young sherlock goes on long enough to be 'middle aged sherlock' to 'old sherlock' or whatever. we have the BBC adaptation anyway. i don't know.

so to summerise, what is james DOING. what does james WANT.

james wants recognition. james is fighting for a society that hates him to give him power and he's deduced the only way to do it is to break people and not just the rules.

and sherlock was his very first try.

young sherlock? try young james moriarty.

was silas drugging everyone in the house.

i mean we know the pill was not the right colour - the thing he gave cordelia

sherlock had hallucinations of that girl and this is never followed up or explained at all.

ok i can't explain anything regarding james' own behaviour. actually it looks like, almost, that he was the only one thinking clearly.

also was crowle in kahoots with silas because he knew where he was to send a message to silas.

watching this particular portrayal of mycroft made so much SENSE for the character dynamics.

sherlock vs the law vs mycroft x migraine.

i could go into mycroft literally being the parentified older sibling etc etc but right now i am SO KEEN on thinking about silas vs mycroft.

mycroft is dangerous in his own way. his father is afraid of him, a little.

silas avoids inviting mycroft into appleton at all chances, e.g. avoiding sending him a telegram.

silas, however, doesn't mind sherlock sniffing around and figuring shit out. so who is actually the dangerous sibling here?

sherlock for his deduction skills? or all the unsaid things about mycroft? most of this show is in sherlock's POV anyway. and when it isn't, it's omniscient - we as the viewers are like omg lestrade DOES have a brain in there! or my gosh mycroft is the cattiest man alive.

we know that silas is a master at gaslighting. silas dubs mycroft his 'errand boy' but offers to make sherlock the heir to his empire of yuck. he's essentially convinced everybody (and sadly i think this low key includes mycroft in this) that mycroft isn't as brilliant as his siblings.

that's threat no.1 somewhat subdued. still afraid though, he keeps 'forgetting' to contact mycroft.

the only difference between him and his siblings is that mycroft is afraid. he's less willing to take risks, and over-complicate matters because he knows it will hurt his family. the scene with the key (mycroft asking sherlock to put it back) is indicative of that.

i also found the following curious; you have mycroft asking sherlock if he's lost his marbles when sherlock says they should send a message to their father to help sort everything out.

why wouldn't you want your father around? there was also no indication that mycroft knew his father was an evil dudebro at that point!! they're also still on 'friendly' terms - conversations about mycroft and his govt work etc etc. why would mycroft say no?

exactly. i feel like this man was fully like, yes i made sure you and bea had wildly different childhoods to my own and i don't resent either of you for it. mycroft survived all of that and is the closest to knowing his father's true colours. but to what extent???