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lemonysnidget · 5 years

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Dead Wrong

Or “Who is Beatrice Snicket’s father?”

Reading The End when it first came out, I remember finishing the book and being somewhat bewildered, somewhat dissatisfied, thinking “okay how is that related to anything that came before????”, but also overall thinking “Wow, I’ve got more questions than when I started reading this book.” That’s not to say that I didn’t like the book, or that I didn’t feel like it wrapped up the overarching theme of the series is a really great way. I enjoyed The End, but it’s very different in tone from the rest of the series, and it doesn’t answer a lot of questions you go in with. And even before Chapter 14, you have so many more questions that also won’t be answered. That’s a bold move on Handler’s part, and it’s a rare thing in Children’s Lit (and a lot of fiction overall).

One of the big questions that has stuck with me as a fan throughout the years - and sparked a few conversations during lunch block with my friends - is Just who is Beatrice’s father? It’s a question you don’t even realize that you could ask until 13.13, and then you’re just kind of stuck with it for the rest of your life. Are the Baudelaire orphans raising the daughter of their former enemy? It’s a great question for Handler to leave the audience with.

Let’s dive into the significance of why wondering about Beatrice’s father is big, and what implications it has for the meaning of the book.

Reading the series the first time around, you might not even think to ask who is the father of Kit Snicket’s baby. Kit’s presence in TPP is so quick that you might not even have the chance to wonder - I certainly don’t remember even thinking about it, since there were so many other questions to be asked at the time. But, once you have Dewey whisper Kit dramatically before he drowns, the answer seems obvious. You do wonder why Kit didn’t mention Dewey’s existence to the Baudelaires, but you don’t linger on it. You realize that “my brother sends his regards” in Frank’s note is actually talking about Dewey and is kinda cute (or creepy depending on how you’re looking at it) and not a code. And if you didn’t get all of that because the book moves at such a breakneck speed, by the last couple pages of the book, you get this line:

For another terrible moment, it felt like the boat was going to sink into the water, just as Dewey Denouement had sunk into the pond, guarding his underwater catalog and all its secrets, and leaving the woman he loved pregnant and distraught. (12.13)

Pregnant? Distraught? Sounds like Kit Snicket. So, we have confirmation that Dewey loved Kit (or that Lemony thinks that Dewey loved Kit). And it’s phrased in a way that really makes you inclined to think that there’s little ambiguity on the matter of who impregnated the Snicket lass.

You get to The End, and everything seems to continue down that same train of thought. Kit asks the Baudelaires specifically about Dewey, and hopes that he will join them too. And then when she finds out Dewey is dead, she just gives up. She tells the Baudelaires: “I've lost too many people—my parents, my true love, and my brothers” and you immediately think she’s talking about Dewey (13.13). You don’t even question it. You just accept that she’s talking about Dewey and move on. But then... suddenly it changes.

"I've lost too much to go on— my parents, my true love, my henchfolk, an enormous amount of money I didn't earn, even the boat with my name on it." (13.13)

There are very few times I’ve actually mentally heard a record scratch in reaction to something, but this was one of them. I remember just stopping and staring at the page for a few seconds, thinking I had misread something. I then flipped back a couple pages to confirm that yep, the parallel structure between Kit’s and Olaf’s statements wasn’t in my head. And I knew that there was absolutely no way that it was an accident. (The in-universe record scratch for the Baudelaires happened with the kiss.)

Handler’s a skilled writer, and he knows enough to be extremely deliberate with his words and phrasing. He knows the importance of punctuation. Even if he might make fun of Aunt Josephine, he uses grammar so well that it’s clear he does care how sentences are structured and how punctuation or the splicing of sentences can provide nuance. No writer worth their salt would have these two sentences in the same chapter (let alone a flip of a page away) if they weren’t trying to say something. Not only do you have similar words and sentiments, there’s similar sentence structure and punctation! These two lines are supposed to go together. And this isn’t even the first time that Olaf and Kit have had very similar lines, in fact in TPP, both Kit and Olaf say "A taxi will pick up anyone who signals for one” matching each other word to word (12.1, 12.9). Perhaps while reading TPP, you didn’t notice it or you assumed it was some kind of code or aphorism of VFD, so you didn’t pay it much mind. But, in hindsight, it seems that Handler was already hinting at Kit and Olaf having a very deep connection.

More than just parallel structure, Handler has a major, major departure from tone of the whole series and the characterization of both Kit and Count Olaf. ASOUE is not a series that focuses on romance, and it certainly does not advocate the notion of true love - maybe you’d find that in The Pony Party or The Littlest Elf. Love in ASOUE is not a permanent thing, and it is not a good thing. Beatrice 1 moved on from Lemony and was very happy in the life she chose. Charles’ love for Sir was not at all healthy. Esme and Jacques marriage is hardly a fairy tale (more a Russian novel). And even though Lemony seems to carry an ever enduring torch for Beatrice, he never refers to her as his true love. No one mentions true love. But, at the end of The End, pragmatic, Machiavellian Kit brings it up for the first time. It’s a little bit jarring. And then when Count Olaf says it, the reader is asked once again to step back and re-evaluate their understanding of the story’s villain, and the story itself.

Continuing on that theme of forcing you to re-evaluate a man readers have spent 13 books seeing as a deplorable/disgusting/unloveable individual, Handler gives Olaf and Kit the most intimate moment in the whole series when Kit reaches out to touch Olaf’s tattoo and recite a love poem to him. Two dying individuals on the opposite side of a war, just connecting one last time, to recite poetry to each other. Taken out of context, it seems pretty damn romantic.

And what does Olaf do in response to Kit’s love poem? He ruins the moment by abridging a poem about the cyclical nature of misery and pain, how children inherit their parents trauma’s, and the best way to avoid passing that burden on is to not have kids and die. Let Olaf say fuck, cowards. Charming thing to say to a pregnant woman in the process of giving birth, eh? Definitely a very Olaf thing to do. Is he just being an asshole? Or is there something else going on?

At that point, there is no choice but to consider the possibility that Olaf is the father of Kit’s baby. Handler wants us to wonder if Beatrice’s birth is book ended by her parents deaths.

No doubt, in the year that follows on the coast shelf, the Baudelaires asked themselves just that. Are they raising the child of the man who relentlessly pursued them and who they believe murdered their parents in revenge? They would have definitely done the math and realized that their series of unfortunate events took less than 40 weeks, safely allowing Olaf to have fathered Beatrice before becoming their guardian.

You can almost see Violet, Klaus, and Sunny searching Beatrice’s face as she grows up, looking for any similarities or clues as to who her father is. Unfortunately, Beatrice “look[s] very much like her mother” so they might never have come to a conclusion (13.14). But, the fact that even with the ambiguity and doubts the Baudelaires still lovingly raised the possible child of the person who they believe made them an orphan is huge. It shows that VFD’s cycle just might be broken. Unlike Olaf, who wasn’t able to let go of the fact that his parents were murdered by at least one of the Baudelaire’s parents and who let it turn him into a twisted villain, the Baudelaires give Beatrice a family, and they don’t let any doubts get in the way of raising her and loving her. And that flies right in the face of everything that has come before.

Instead of the intergenerational passing down of trauma, abuse, and pain that is a part of VFD and the story as a whole, the Baudelaires stand up and stop the cycle. The Baudelaires did not become like Count Olaf, despite their unfortunate events. The Baudelaires rose above their trauma.

They directly contradict Olaf’s dying words. Man doesn’t have to hand misery to man, and your parents don’t have to fuck you up. Trauma does not have to be something that’s passed on as an epigenetic trait. You can have a terrible childhood, and you can grow up and make sure that whatever you suffered doesn’t happen to the next generation. This is a major takeaway point from the series.

The ambiguity over Beatrice’s paternity is essential to the overall arc of ASOUE. It completes the circle, and it is a powerful message. So powerful, in fact, that Handler actually decided he had to include it, even if originally, he hadn’t planned on it.

Handler has talked about how he had to rework some of TPP because of one throw-away line in TBB. But, he hasn’t talked about how suddenly, between TGG and TPP, Kit became 9 months pregnant.

In the driver's seat was a woman the Baudelaires had never seen before, dressed in a long, black coat buttoned up all the way to her chin. On her hands were a pair of white cotton gloves, and in her lap were two slim books, probably to keep her company while she waited.(11.13)

The Baudelaires can see her lap in TGG - Kit was not in her third trimester when Handler originally penned TGG. But, “her belly had a slight but definite curve” as of TPP (12.1). This is a ret-con, folks. Handler can’t change the fact that he had the Baudelaires be able to look into the car and see that she had two books in her lap instead of resting on top of a very pregnant belly, so he tries to act like nothing happened and hopes the readers won’t notice the contradiction. A woman who is about to give birth would have more than a slight curve, I might add, but that’s not exactly important.

Obviously, Kit being pregnant was vitally important to Handler’s story. So important that he contradicted himself, something that he went to great lengths to avoid doing in the same book. If Beatrice’s father was supposed to be Dewey - a character who was only in one book, who supported the Baudelaires rather than challenged them - then Handler would not have done this. Beatrice wouldn’t have been written in if Dewey was meant to be the obvious father. The Baudelaires raising Dewey’s daughter doesn’t really add anything to the story, and it would present far too small of an arc (just the last two books) to be worth it.

So why even have Dewey be romantically connected to Kit at all? Why not just not give a candidate for who the father of Kit’s baby is until we see her with Olaf? Well... to quote the show:

ASOUE is filled with mysteries. Handler loves weaving them. He loves giving you a few clues here and there, and sometimes giving you enough clues to solve the puzzle on your own, and other times, he deliberately withholds stuff just because it suits his narrative aesthetic. And a lot of the time, he deliberately misleads or misdirects you.

When it comes to Dewey and Kit’s relationship, Handler gives us enough to connect the dots, but connecting them isn’t necessarily the right thing to do. While it is entirely possible that Dewey and Kit were sexually involved, it is very important to note that Handler does not actually give us any confirmation that Dewey’s feelings were returned or if he and Kit actually were intimate. Dewey loved Kit, yes, that is a fact, but loving someone is not enough to create a baby with them. That’s not actually how it works, even if a lot of sex talks might want you to think so.

Kit and Dewey were not living together. If Kit and Dewey were planning to co-parent together as a couple, Kit would not be solely responsible for “[choosing] wallpaper for the baby's room” - they would be choosing it together, but instead, Dewey is still living with his brothers at at the Hotel at all hours (12.2) Further support for this is that were Dewey and Kit together, Frank wouldn’t have to act as a go-between for Kit and Dewey by telling her “my brother sends his regards” (12.2). Dewey would have been able to give Kit his regards himself... and he probably wouldn’t be giving regards. For a couple that’s romantically involved, that sounds incredibly formal! In fact, Kit actually describes Dewey as “a wonderful gentleman” (12.2). A similarly stiff way to refer to someone... not to mention the fact that referring to someone as a gentleman is frequently used in the context of a guy not being to forward or taking advantage of a situation sexually where he could have ignored the woman’s boundaries. It really does sound like Dewey, despite loving Kit after years of working with her, wasn’t actually physically intimate with Kit. Dewey’s love, therefore, seems to have a lot more in common with the courtly love of Dante and Beatrice rather than an erotic love.

That doesn’t mean they weren’t mutually emotionally intimate, creating a very strong bond. Kit was obviously extremely distressed by his death and they did work together for years. But, it’s hard to know if Kit was upset to find out about the death of her child’s father or if she was upset because her friend and everything that they had worked for was gone. Or both. Either one is pretty devastating.

Olaf in book canon is more likely than not Beatrice’s father, for meta reasons and “in universe” reasons. Olaf being Beatrice’s father is consistent with the textual evidence, whereas the textual evidence does not support Dewey and Kit having a serious or even sexual relationship. The Baudelaires considering the possibility that Olaf is Beatrice’s father is absolutely essential for the meaning of the series. The Baudelaires, who unlike us cannot go back and pick apart the text, have to have their doubts, but they treat Beatrice in a way that the prior generations of VFD could not comprehend.

So you might wonder, Does Olaf know? Does he consider the possibility for Beatrice being his daughter? For him, the matter might be pretty unambiguous, since he has knowledge that the Baudelaires, Lemony, and us the readers don’t have. Perhaps he knows that she isn’t, perhaps he knows she is, perhaps he doesn’t know one way or the other. Regardless, Olaf doesn’t care. Olaf was more than willing to claim he’d kill Kit and her unborn child at the start of The End, but when it comes down to it, Olaf chooses to suffer a lot of pain, prolonging his death, to help the both of them. Darwin might argue that Olaf being Beatrice’s father takes away the selflessness of the act. But, Darwin would be ignoring Count Olaf’s dying words: “Don’t have kids yourself.” Count Olaf did not want to become a father, but he suffers greatly to ensure that Kit’s child is born.

That is a noble act.

You could say it would be more noble if it were Dewey’s daughter, but I disagree. Why would Olaf care whether Dewey’s daughter lived or died? He wouldn’t. Olaf’s act is selfless because Beatrice isn’t Dewey’s daughter.

On the topic of Netflix, and speculation for the third season:

Do I think the show is going to go this route... possibly. Though the casting of a younger woman to play Kit and a younger man to play the Denouements makes it seem a little bit less likely that they would go for it. But, I do find it interesting that Netflix deliberately added the cake tasting scene in TBB.

Perhaps it might have just been to foreshadow to complicated relationship between Lemony and Olaf, but, it’s interesting that it’s cake when we know that cake is what Beatrice Snicket wants to bring along with her on the boat to escape the island - "Cake!" shrieked the baby, and her guardians laughed (13.14).

“Cake” is the only non-babytalk line that Beatrice says, and the fact that Handler chose to have Beatrice love cake of all things not to long after he has Lemony inform of us of the fact that Dewey was able to document twenty-seven cakes “that Olaf has stolen” (12.13). Handler wanted to remind us of just how much Olaf loves cakes just before The End. Sure, he’s not the only character who likes cakes, but it is an interesting choice on Handler’s part, and an interesting choice for Netflix to include that scene.

In about a week, we’ll know what route they decided to take with the Netflix adaptation, but I do believe that they have set up the potential for Beatrice being Olaf’s daughter should they choose to keep Beatrice’s line about cake.

And there you have it, the meta I have had in my ‘drafts’ for six months because I kept on writing it and scrapping it.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #kit snicket #dewey denouement #count olaf

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mychakk · 7 years

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From a Joke to the End Game - The Evolution of Molly Hooper: Molly the Tool: The Great Game - part one.

Hello!

It’s time for The Great Game. I’m so excited! :D

Once again thank you to all who has read and enjoyed the previous parts of this meta.

As it is no surprise to anyone, Molly’s role in The Great Game is to introduce Jim from IT aka James Moriarty. This scene of course has been over-analysed many times before. But I want to do my own interpretation as it is slightly different than the general consensus amongst the fans and shippers. If you notice something you’ve created and want me to credit you, please let me know.

Rest is under the cut, as it’s a long post with captions. I have also decided to post this meta into two parts. Second one can be find here.

Please remember that I write this meta with the view, that the aired episodes we’ve been given are a sum of Moftiss’ initial ideas, their screenplay, the director’s interpretation, the actors’ portrayal, music composers’ creations AND the editing crew’s choices. All of that created the show as we know. And it got Moftiss’ final approval to be aired as something they wanted to share with us. I analyse the final result as we got it.

Molly’s little foray into acting (and experimenting)

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Molly has been involved one way or another in setting up this “cute meet” for Jim from IT and Sherlock Holmes. Why she has done it remains a mystery. We do not know if it was her idea or Jim’s to have him meet the (in)famous Sherlock Holmes. Had Jim asked her timidly to introduce him to Sherlock, his hero, and poor, golden hearted Molly couldn’t say no to those pleading, shy, dark (cunning!) eyes? Or had she planned it herself to introduce him in order to make Sherlock jealous? It can be either of those or both at once. We don’t know for certain. The fact remains, that the moment Jim enters with his:

JM: Oh, sorry. I didn’t ...

Molly starts her performance in being surprised worth of A Golden Raspberry Award. LOL.

MH: Jim! Hi! Come in! Come in!

Interestedly, what we do learn from Molly’s little stunt is that she actually doesn’t pine helplessly after Sherlock. She might be interested in Sherlock in general and in his reaction here in particular but the fact still remains: sometime since we saw her last she has found herself a new beau. This of course fits perfectly with her portrayal in episode one, when after Sherlock’s rebuttal to her asking him for coffee she had just whipped her lipstick off and brightly brought him his order. Here, we learn she had met a guy interested in her and she had given it a go. As I mentioned already in my Study in Pink meta, Molly is not defined by her crush, she doesn’t allow it to consume her. She might be interested, but she won’t waste her life on someone who isn’t interested in her in return, even if she still tries to remain their friend.

While Molly introduces Jim from IT it is revealed she doesn’t seem to know John at all. This is a very interesting titbit. We’ve already seen them briefly together when their paths crossed in the same room in A Study in Pink, but apparently neither one had taken any notice of the other back then. Curiously, John does seem to be familiar with her somewhat but she’s completely oblivious to him to the point of asking about his very name. Why is that?

Firstly, she might be so totally and completely focused on Sherlock whenever he’s in the same room with her, that she ignores everyone else present with them. This means they might have been properly introduced already but she had forgotten him. It’s possible, Molly’s crush on Sherlock is huge. But at the same time it seems highly improbable as Molly simply doesn’t seem to be the type to forget someone she has already been introduced to.

This makes me think that Molly hadn’t actually met John since that little glimpse she had of him in A Study in Pink. The Blind Banker collaborates it, as Sherlock visits her at Bart’s on his own to check the connection between the two dead bodies. Her inquiry about John’s name also implies that Sherlock had not been talking with Molly about his new flatmate, be it either because he hadn’t had the opportunity or inclination to do so. If Sherlock had mentioned John to her, Molly would have remembered him simply because she has a crush on Sherlock and would be involuntarily predisposed to remember anything and anyone he mentions. (I’m sure we are all familiar with this when we remember every tiny detail our crushes mention.) Furthermore, if Molly knew of John on some level she would have asked something along the lines of “And you must be John?” but she has no clue whatsoever who he is. Ergo, Sherlock definitively hadn’t talked about him to her. At the same time, as John seems to be somewhat familiar with Molly it’s highly probable that Sherlock had actually talked about her to John before the meeting in TGG. Which is interesting on its own (and opens lots of shippy possibilities), but can be easily explained by Sherlock simply mentioning Molly as he goes to Bart’s for either experiments or to procure body parts.

The fact remains that this scene here seems to be the very first real introduction between Molly and John.

As the scene progresses, the camera doesn’t really focus on Molly, but we can still hear her explanation about how she and Jim met. She’s cheerful and giggly describing her office romance. Her voice sounds happy and pleasant, and …a little expectant. No matter whose, either Molly’s or Jim’s, idea it was in the first place to introduce Jim to Sherlock, at the moment of the introduction Molly is definitely ready to use this opportunity to see how Sherlock’s reacts to her potential boyfriends/male friends. She may be trying to engage everyone in her little performance, but it’s clear she is mainly interested in Sherlock’s reactions. She is expectant to see how Sherlock will interact with her new (boy)friend. We can clearly pick on it even though her face is mostly blurry. Her eyes, her face, her sole being is exclusively focused on Sherlock. Molly is clearly absorbed in Sherlock’s reactions and those are the most important things to her in that moment.

Interestingly though, Molly doesn’t seem disappointed when at first Sherlock acts more indifferent than anything else. She doesn’t falter in being her happy, bubbly self throughout the first part of the introduction no matter Sherlock’s reaction (or lack thereof). It isn’t until Sherlock calls Jim gay and Jim knocks the dish, embarrassing himself and in the process her, that Molly’s mood falters noticeably. So why is she not disappointed in Sherlock’s lack of any reaction (possibly the preferable jealousy) at first? Maybe because, while she is interested in Sherlock’s reaction, it’s more to do with actually seeing what it might be in the first place than inducing any preconceived ideas of it (aka jealousy).

Molly is a scientist. She is curious about Sherlock reactions. So when the opportunity came to introduce Jim, she grabbed the chance. Of course, if Sherlock turns out to be a hopefully jealous potential mate, good. Fantastic even! But Molly doesn’t seem to have much expectations in those regards here. She doesn’t really expects Sherlock to be jealous. But she is very interested in his reaction, and so she observes. If so, then what is she up to, right? I think Molly may be actually experimenting on Sherlock with Jim. To see how he reacts. She is curious but she doesn’t expect much of a result and seems to be validated in her expectations. (That last part will actually come up again in ASiB, so keep this in mind!)

I also think that Molly’s behaviour in this scene fits a person who wants to be a little more than a mere acquaintance; she wants to be Sherlock’s friend. And being one means sharing all parts of your life with each other, not just the one that is work related. If she and Sherlock spend time together at Bart’s and if Sherlock talks to her about his life (as we learn later on in ASiB during the Christmas scene), then it’s logical that Molly want to include Sherlock in her life as well. Hence, the introduction of her new (boy)friend. Her being all smiley and expectant of Sherlock’s interactions with the newcomer seems to confirm this as well. She just want to see what her friend would say about her new beau.

And then Sherlock calls Jim gay.

MH: Sorry, what?

As I noted a few paragraphs above, despite being interested in Sherlock’s reaction, Molly’s quite happy to introduce her new (boy)friend. She seems to be quite happy with having someone in her life, someone who is nice and timid and interested in her. And that’s why Sherlock’s off-handed comment pours a bucket full of cold water over her happy warm bubble. Her whole sunny appearance disappears instantly. But she likes Jim and so she won’t disregard him so easily. Notice, that even though she’s clearly embarrassed by Jim’s clumsiness, she still have it in her to smile brightly at him as he asks her to confirm their date at The Fox:

Although Sherlock’s comment startled her, she won’t allow it to take away her happiness and plans for the evening. Sherlock Holmes may be her favourite chocolate, but she’s willing to try other flavours in the box to see what else may work for her too. I think I hadn’t mentioned it yet in this post but Molly Hooper is awesome :)

Curiously, Molly is not happy with Sherlock after his callous comment, for her smile actually fades the moment her eyes lands on him:

Clearly, she’s already preparing herself for the interrogation she’ll give him after Jim leaves. And Sherlock’s blatant ignorance of them at the end of their interactions only fuels her more. There is no surprise then, that she confronts Sherlock almost immediately after they are left alone (John may very well be a furniture here).

MH: What d’you mean, gay? We’re together. SH (looking across to her): And domestic bliss must suit you, Molly. You’ve put on three pounds since I last saw you. MH: Two and a half. SH: Nuh, three. JW: Sherlock ...

It’s interesting that Molly is determined to confront Sherlock right away. She had her own view on things, and since he disregarded it and has shown her a different interpretation of the reality, and a disparaging one on top of that, she demands an explanation. She’s not afraid to ask him for a clarification, she’s not afraid to call him on his bad behaviour. She may be taken aback a little by his deductions but she’s not afraid to meet him face to face when he’s being obnoxious and unkind to her.

MH (angrily): He’s not gay. Why d’you have to spoil-? He’s not.

This little sentence is one of the biggest enigmas about Molly and Sherlock’s relationship. Molly’s accusation of Sherlock spoiling everything for her comes in an angry voice as if she had it enough of him doing this to her all the time. This indicates he’s doing it a lot and probably on a regular basis and Molly might be nearing her breaking point with his behaviour. The accusation burst out of her but she quickly contained it, apparently not wanting to discuss it in the here and now of their confrontation. That’s quite interesting because she cut herself off as she glances at John. What is she trying to hide? What does she not want this new acquaintance of them to know about herself and Sherlock? Is there something in their past that needs to be kept buried? Also the way she says the accusation makes one wonder what else Sherlock had spoiled for Molly before now. But because she cuts the sentence off, we do not know what exactly it may be. Still, so many possibilities.

Molly may not reveal the reason for her aggravation with Sherlock but considering the context of the scene (introducing a new boyfriend), the most probable interpretation about the spoiled thing is that Sherlock screens Molly’s potential boyfriends and deems them unworthy thus spoiling everything for her. Or maybe he even does it with all other people in Molly’s life? Nevertheless, we definitely learn here that he sabotages something in her life. If it is indeed Molly’s love life then, I think, Sherlock’s actions are deeply rooted in feelings of protectiveness and possessiveness that he feels for and over Molly than anything more (why I think so will be explained more in the second part of this meta). Is there jealousy on his part? No, not at this point in their relationship. It’s not that I think Sherlock doesn’t have feelings for Molly already. Actually I think he does. But those feelings aren’t yet realised or even properly internalised. They are just there way back in the background, dormant, ignored, or more like completely unnoticed, but they still start to manifest in protectiveness that is slowly evolving into possessiveness. Additionally, Sherlock doesn’t feel jealous over Molly yet for I think up to this point in time he hadn’t felt really threatened by any of Molly’s love interests, and that includes Jim (more on that in the second part of this meta). At this point in time there is no reason yet to feel really jealous of Molly’s affections. But! As we know, this reaction will come and not long after, but right away in ASiB.

Back to Molly. As Sherlock does his deductions of Jim, Molly stands kind of stupefied watching him with wide eyes. She seem to be unable to believe her ears as she listens to his evisceration of her potential new boyfriend. No surprise then that when Sherlock concludes his monolog with his advice Molly gives him this look:

She is looking at him as if she saw him for the very first time. She’s speechless and hurt and feeling incredulous. And I think a little disillusioned by him. It’s as if you could hear the “I can’t believe you just did this to me!” thought going over her mind. She doesn’t have anything to say to him. Nothing good at least. I think she might have said some very unsavoury things to him if she stayed a minute longer for her look changes minimally to this one before she leaves the lab:

The change here is really subtle, but her looks hardens, eyes narrow, mouth sets. A micro facial reaction of disgust fleets her face before she leaves. I truly need a gif of her face here. It’s all there for a brief second. In that short blink of a moment you can already see the woman, who will later slap Sherlock thrice for his transgressions, lurking inside.

At this point in their association Molly sees them probably still more as acquaintances than real friends. From her point of view their relationship hasn’t evolved yet to the point of trust and expectations that TRF brought upon them. Because of that I think Molly decides to retreat here instead of confronting Sherlock some more about his appalling behaviour. I also think Sherlock had shocked Molly a little. I think, no matter his treatment of her before, he hadn’t been yet this difficult with her and her acquaintances. And in that moment part of Molly has stopped seeing him in a wondrous light. Her crush is still there, but Sherlock slowly becomes a faulty man in her eyes instead of the marvellous creature haunting her Morgue. And this change starts right here.

I do believe Molly left not to cry over Sherlock’s hurtful actions but both to give herself some space (otherwise she’ll just slap him silly for his abominable behaviour) and to take a step back and internalise this new aspect of Sherlock’s behaviour she had just witnessed being aimed at her.

To sum up, in this scene we’ve seen Molly as a strong woman not afraid to confront a person if they did her wrong. A woman who, despite having a crush, is willing to put herself out and try to find happiness somewhere else. Molly here is also her happy cheerful self, being kind to all her friends, including Jim from IT. Finally, she is slowly revealing the strong, BAMF Molly that we see later on in the series.

Now let’s take a look at Sherlock’s side of this scene in the part two.

#sherlolly #molly hooper #sherlock holmes #my meta #the meta #the meta: tgg #tgg #the great game #part one

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