#antigone

A female sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) and her chick in Florida, USA

Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis), mother with “colts”, family Gruidae, order Gruiformes, FL, USA

This line is so funny and clever for so many reasons. On the surface the way that the whole story revolves around the Holmes family is very reminiscent of Greek tragedies that so often revolve around one or two (very messy) families (which is why James says this in the first place). The funny part - James hooking up with Beatrice after flirting with both Sherlock and his mom - everyone hooks up with everyone in Greek myth.

However I feel like it goes much farther than that. Throughout the show there are references to many literary works (Art of War, Hamlet, etc…) which all bring their own metaphors and whatnot (that would be a separate post). This specific reference could just be about the inevitably of the endings of Greek tragedies and dramatic irony (e.g. Orpheus is always going to turn around). We know Sherlock and James are gonna end up as mortal enemies but it’s so interesting to watch how it plays out in this version.

More on a limb but this could also be about James himself being Sherlock’s “fatal flaw.” Although in Greek tragedies it’s less of a flaw and more just how the story line unfolds; “hamartia” (often used for fatal flaw) can translate to “mistake”. Sherlock’s mistake is trusting James and letting him learn everything about him even though Sherlock has no way to know that until it’s too late. (Think about how often characters try to avoid a prophecy which only results in them fulfilling it). Another part of this is that there are no “good” or “evil” characters in Greek tragedy, everyone is multifaceted and can represent different mortals and aspects of the story (like in Antigone especially).