#Deception in BBC Sherlock | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

denimbex1986 · 13 days

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'Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author largely of books ubiquitously described as psychological thrillers, but the adjective is doing much more work than it usually does in such descriptions. The psychological depths tend to be far deeper than just a worry about being caught for assorted misdeeds. It’s no surprise that her works have proven appealing to all sorts of directors. When your first novel is adapted a year after publication by Alfred Hitchcock, you know you’re doing something right. Strangers on a Train is about much more than just a macabre plan. Wim Wenders’s The American Friend, Claude Chabrol’s The Cry of the Owl, and Todd Haynes’s Carol are all very good.

Tom Ripley is Highsmith’s best-known creation. Turning a Henry James plot into pulp fiction is not the sort of thing that’s usually advisable, but she did it extraordinarily well. The plot of The Ambassadors, an industrialist hiring a man to seek to induce her son to return to America from expat indolence, is cribbed here as a foundation. The James protagonist finds Europe much to his liking, as does Highsmith’s Ripley. When the European idyll is threatened, Ripley has a novel thought: Why not bump the young scion off and take his place?

This sounds like a preposterous plan to execute. And it is! That’s why it’s entirely engrossing. Her aim was, she wrote, “showing the unequivocal triumph of evil over good, and rejoicing in it. I shall make my readers rejoice in it, too.” Netflix‘s new series, Ripley, succeeds in replicating exactly this feat.

The trouble with prior screen adaptations of Highsmith’s Ripley stories has been that he’s always been made far too pleasant. If René Clément’s French language 1960 Purple Noon and Anthony Minghella’s star-studded 1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley are both credible adaptations in their own way, there’s something askew about both matinee idol Alain Delon or effortless everyman Matt Damon as Tom Ripley. Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich both had elements of the Ripley persona down in adaptations of later novels (Barry Pepper did not), but there still seemed to be elements of the portrait missing.

I’m sure I’m not the only reader to find the versatile con man who appears across five Highsmith novels initially repellent. He is not enthusiastic, loathing nearly all of the effort involved in his cons. And he is not loquacious or charismatic as we might expect from a grifter. In almost his very first deception at the start of The Talented Mr. Ripley (the subject of this adaptation), he himself notices the cracks in his crocodile grin: “When he looked into the mirror, he found that his face had turned down at the corners.” Most frauds will say nearly anything to wheedle their way into favor. Talk is normally very cheap when you have no regard for truth. Ripley can’t bring himself to muster more than the mildest of faint praise for execrable paintings by his main mark. Almost every decent person has told white lies with less hesitation.

Things are different in Ripley, the best adaptation of the novel to date, thanks in considerable part to the casting of Andrew Scott (familiar from a variety of things but most germane to this particular role as Moriarty in the BBC Sherlock series) as Ripley. Scott telegraphs unease and strain with great facility. Sometimes, he’s vaguely normally personable. At many other points, his strained effort seems entirely transparent. This sort of calibration captures in excellent fashion the frank distaste that Ripley feels for almost everyone in the source material, a difficult thing to pull off in a book largely composed of his own train of thought. He is terrifically bored by most of his targets and doesn’t work all that hard to conceal the fact. He succeeds somehow with most people. It’s reliably a surprise that only a few see through him.

If the promise of streaming television has been tarnished by countless long-winded series that have no idea how to pace themselves or end, this one makes excellent use of an eight-episode frame to tell the tale of the novel basically in full. Prior adaptations simply couldn’t do that within a feature film length. Purple Noon opens in media res. The Talented Mr. Ripley condenses a number of things. There are some minor emendations, most of which are actively good and almost all at least forgivable.

The book dedicates an enormous amount of time to Ripley’s scheming and improvising. His plans are usually not airtight. Much of the riveting character of the book is how easily he might be caught at almost any moment. A number of sequences whose dramatic tension is contained in their great length are presented in white knuckle effulgence here. Two very lengthy corpse disposals are engrossing. Conversations are lengthy, full of pregnant pauses. There’s even high drama wrought out of multiple bank scenes in which we find Tom feloniously drawing funds.

Steven Zaillian, who wrote the screenplays for Schindler’s List, The Gangs of New York, and The Irishman, provides an excellent script and credible direction. The work of cinematographer Robert Elswit (whose credits include There Will Be Blood) is great. Ripley’s early miserable life in New York is presented well. The tenements are squalid and subways sweltering. La Dolce Vita-era Italy looks all the more rapturous afterward, with shadows and light in various palazzi motivating almost anyone to murder. Locations across south Italy, Capri, and Venice are excellent.

Casting beyond Ripley himself is very strong. Johnny Flynn’s Dickie Greenleaf is a perfect, vaguely dim, but charismatic offspring of privilege. Maurizio Lombardi, perhaps familiar as a cardinal in The Young Pope, is a very strong inspector on the case. Playwright Kenneth Lonergan (who also co-wrote The Gangs of New York) is an ideal Herbert Greenleaf. The casting of Freddie Miles is one substantial deviation, here not the churlish porker of the novel (Philip Seymour Hoffman was about ideal) but rather an androgynous proto-Eurotrash wisp. Dakota Fanning’s Marge Sherwood, Dickie Greenleaf’s tedious paramour, is rendered more truly than any prior. She’s no stunning beauty but a rather average girl in “naive clothes” with “windblown hair and her general air of a Girl Scout.”

Now, Ripley is not exactly a fan of any women if Marge is particularly low on the list. Ripley is very deliberately rendered as sort of gay in the novel. He finds Dickie handsome and Marge repulsive. At a key juncture, he notes he “could have hit Dickie, sprung on him, or kissed him, or thrown him overboard.” This is not the range of options most people consider in a social dilemma, no matter their sexual orientation. Purple Noon basically omitted this element, while The Talented Mr. Ripley camped it up. Ripley replicates the novel’s deliberate ambiguity. He seems devoid of almost any active sexuality and likes almost no one, with exceptions for a handful of men.

What Ripley does like are the finer things in life. He thrills to travel, fine clothing, beautiful objects, and art. These things receive all sorts of close cinematic attention. There is a Hitchcockian cinematic focus on pens, an ashtray, and other talismans of the good life (that also might be used to kill).

Ripley contains a cameo from Malkovich (who portrayed Ripley in another earlier adaptation, Ripley’s Game) as a character from the next novel, and Zaillian optioned all five Ripley novels. Let’s hope that the viewers stream in, as it would be nice to see more of this Ripley.'

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thetimemoves · 1 year

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Self-Reblog Saturday

My BBC version of ACD’s A Case of Identity, this time with a more satisfying ending.

Metamorphosis

Their poolside confrontation with Moriarty casts John and Sherlock adrift and leaves them struggling to reconnect.

Enter Maya Sutherland, whose case of love and deception brings a familiar face back into their lives and shocks them into action.

#because why not #self-reblog saturday #bbc sherlock #acd canon #canon rewrite #a case of identity #johnlock #the great game

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lokidokieokie · 2 years

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Masterlist

Last Updated: 14/03

Loki Laufeyson

Series

Mischief & Trickery

(ON HOLD)

Summary: Medea Daegandottir, the Goddess of Trickery, loves spicing things up in the Asgardian palace. Adding her best friend Loki into the mix could only bring more chaos. What could possibly go wrong? The answer, many things.

Mini Series

Into The MCU

The Price of Deception

Oneshots

Three Words; Fifteen Letters; One Expletive

You’re Stuck With Me Now!

Drunken Words

You Tell Her, or I Will

Accidental Confessions

Close Quarters

His Protector

Heat Wave

The Space Between

Love’s Debut

Drabble-ish

By Your Side

Avengers Assemble…to Deal with Lokitty!

Drunk and in Love

Captive Hearts

Healing the Enemy

Tom Hiddleston

Oneshots

Fanfiction

Almost Too Late!

I’ve Got You

Ever the Gentleman

Friends With the Green-Eyed Monster

James Conrad

Drabbles

Campfire Confessions

Benedict Cumberbatch

Oneshots

The “L” Word

Doctor Strange

Mini Series

The Great Escape

A Love Torn Asunder

A Spoonful of Sugar

Oneshots

You’ve Been Here All This Time?

Oops...?

Sleepy Realisations

Tony Was Wrong.

Practice Makes Perfect

Bloodied and Bruised

The Strange Approach

The Ghost of Kamar-Taj

Knight in a Sentient Cloak

I’m Here, Whenever You’re Ready

From the Pages of History

Drabble-ish

Forever; Endlessly

Beyond the Broken Hands

The Healing Touch

An Apprenticeship With a Twist

The Blip’s Silver Lining

BBC Sherlock Holmes

Drabble-ish

The Case of the Brokenhearted Stranger

A Love That Defies Conventions

The Second Anderson

Crime and Chemistry

Navigating the Grey Area

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verosvault · 7 months

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My Fandoms right now as of March 13, 2024

Dimension20

Kpop

Marvel

The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings

Criminal Minds

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Critical Role (I'm still on campaign 1)

Supernatural

Voiceplay

Pentatonix

Sherlock BBC

Stranger Things

Locke & Key

The Sandman

The Umbrella Academy

Sanders Sides

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Order (Netflix Show)

Deception (2018 TV Show)

Vincenzo

Diseny's Descendants

Yungblud

Disney's Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

Lab Rats / Lab Rats Elite Force

Mighty Med

Wizards of Waverly Place

LPS / Littlest Pet Shop / LPS Popular

Hypnosis Microphone

Paradox Live

Twisted Wonderland

My Hero Academia

Demon Slayer

Doom at your Service

American Vandal

Control Z

Twenty One Pilots

Jonas Brothers

Big Time Rush

Uta No Prince Sama

Ensemble Stars

Narnia

Overwatch

Wizard101

Avatar the Last Airbender

Harry Potter

I may or may not be updating this as time goes along. This blog will be mainly focusing on those topics. :3

#My Fandoms #Blog

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essayofthoughts · 1 year

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7, 13, 35, 39? :D

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

So back in the days before everyone decided the entirety of Harry Potter was as shit as it's creator* I actually used to run a HP headcanon blog, specifically one where I noodled out ideas about the flora and fauna of the magical world. I had a lot of fun with @themonsterblogofmonsters and while I probably won't be going back to it for some time - Hello CritRole pit! - I do still enjoy the sheer amount of sandbox space available in it.

Consequently some of my favourite worldbuilding I've done in fic form is probably The Banker or the Ban? Goblin Professions in Magical Europe, done for the Worldbuilding Exchange 2021. I wanted to try to dig into the racism and xenophobia of the magical world and to use some of the analogues and allegories of canon to further expand on it, to show how such things might occur in the world, sometimes mirroring known historical events, and to criticise such behaviour.

* I will be clear: JKR is a piece of shit. HP itself is flawed but worth criticising on its own merits, not being lumped in with its radicalised, shitty creator. I have seen a great deal of criticism that comes solely from a basis of wanting to believe it was always bad and that JKR was always bad and I dislike things that pretend that radicalisation isn't something that can happen to anyone - even you, reading this.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

To write? Not that I can think of. To read? I definitely gained an ever-increasing dislike for slash fandom and went from tolerant of A/B/O to often quite skeeved out by some of it. There's a lot of misogyny and even racism often built into the way people who preferentially ship non-canon (usually white) gay ships and it often results in the villainising or fridging of existing canon female or POC love interests - this was especially bad in the Sherlock fandom; I recall reading one fic, absolutely excellent characterisation, beautifully written... but which introduced the character of Mary Morstan before her debut in the BBC Sherlock canon solely to make her a deceptive serial cheater so that John would be morally justified in getting with Sherlock.

After that I found that I just couldn't enjoy slashfic anymore - so often it ends up being at best dismissive of canon love interests and at worse actively malicious towards them, often drastically mischaracterising them.

I am someone who cannot stand purposefully, knowingly deceptive or dishonest presentations of things - and I consider the purposeful, malicious mischaracterisation of a character to be a similar brand of dishonesty.

Also just... the insistence of shipping your two (again, usually white) male faves together, often using the excuse of "But the female characters aren't as fleshed out!" - my dude, nor is that one guy mentioned in a throwaway comment by another character and yet fandom's so willing to give one-off male characters rich backstories and inner lives and just refuses to do that for the female ones. For the trans ones. For the characters of colour. It hacks me off and it's just fucking lazy.

And that's why I generally don't read slash anymore.

35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life?

I mean, I ran monsterblog for... several years, but my niche interest is Archaeology not Biology. As for actual fic... while I have codependent tendencies I'm pretty strict about managing those these days and I've certainly never been as codependent as certain characters I've written. And unlike Percy in Ghost Cass, I do not have the disembodied voice of one of my siblings in my head. I don't go adventuring like VM, and I am someone who Does Not Like travelling, especially long distances or overseas - I'm terrified of getting lost or running out of funds somewhere I don't speak the language.

Otherwise... I don't know? I often use things I've noted in my own life to help flesh out the world - the way that a valley can spread out down below you, golden fields split by green hedgerows, the way the cold wind can bite at your face, the soft cut of salt in the air when you're near the coast, the way birdsong can trill through the air. And with characters - quirks of eyebrows, the way a mouth twists, certain aspects of posture and movement.

I like using these little things I note day to day to help ground a story in a sense of reality, like the way a grounding touch can draw you out of your own thoughts. The point is to take something fantastical and bring it back to something the reader can easily understand and grasp - can relate to. That way, no matter how outlandish a thing one writes about - facing the bright, burning fireball of a dragon's breath, lets say - can be given a sense of reality by a reminder of the acrid scent of burning hair, the way the fire fills one's whole vision, the raw sting that lingers on the skin like lasting sunburn.

It makes the fantastical real.

39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?

So back when I was in the MCU fandom, I used to write a lot of Maximoff twins fics. Like a lot. Like over 200 lots.

And most of these were oneshots. Some of these were way-overlong oneshots (looking at you, Crimson Peak AU) but still - they were oneshots. And I got in the habit of writing these in a vignette style, small snippet scenes, capsule moments that gave an idea of the overall story while still being only a few thousand words, if that. Each of the sections was marked by a lower-case numeral and there could be as few as five and as many as... I think I got up to 100 in the Crimson Peak AU.

I stole this way of doing vignette fics wholecloth from the wonderful @cosmonauthill. They used it as a way of doing simple fics for a prompt game and I found it so helpful for actually finishing fics, because I could just organise snapshot scenes into rough order and not write the dull in-betweens. I'm also very envious of Niamh's ability to very deftly create an atmosphere or a visual image of a written scene and emulating what they've managed to do in some of their fics has definitely pushed me to improve.

I also attribute a lot of my... I don't know... particular way of thinking about things, and how I try to empathise with and even write characters I don't like and struggle with to @tobermoriansass, who taught me to more carefully think about alternate perspectives and where they originate from, even if I don't agree with them, and a lot of my specific thoughts about Campaign 1 and certain notes I'll repeatedly bring up in fics are absolutely due to discussions I had with @chamerionwrites as I was watching the Campaign. Chamerion has a very measured way of explaining their thoughts that really helps to understand how they got there and why they think they make sense and I generally find that more compelling than other arguments.

And also, through all of these, it's pushed me to want to make sure that even when you disagree with a character's choice you still understand where they're coming from. Niamh's ability to deftly set the atmosphere and Mike's to present the perspective and Chamerion's to put it all together coherently - knowing all three of them has pushed me to improve in these ways due to these things I admire deeply about all of them.

#ask game #blorbologist #fic things #ask

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santo-antonio · 10 months

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A reductive lense I find myself using is that on the in general the difference between SciFi and fantasy is only surface deep and mostly about aesthetics. SciFi is about a kind of "Techno-Futurism" eg Spaceships & Scientists, Star-systems and Strange Species compared to fantasy looking like "Mytho-Medievalism" Swords and scorcerors, Forrests and un-Familiar Fairies although a deeper look into genre tropes probably shows this is structurally incorrect The discussions around Hard vs Soft Rules Systems is interesting to me. It applies to both Magic in Fantasy as well as Science in SciFi. I think they map onto a spectrum of "likelihood" eg impossible, improbable, implausible, possible, plausible, probable proven. This spectrum of likelihood isn't in comparison to the physical world but is in relation to coherence/contradictions of the work to itself. Personally I'm frustrated by an author who's world is vague, they painted such a poor picture of that reality that my predictive intuitions were useless in anticipating the plot. I'm also annoyed at authors who didn't create an internally consistent world that could withstand my unconscious analytical thinking and it starts to become clear that they are confused about their own creation. Trying to get outside of my personal tastes I wonder is there a correct kind of art, is there a wrong kind of art? People's perceptual abilites vary both genetically and as aquired skills. Geeks, nerds and neurodivergents are distinct because their interests are beyond the "norm". You could probably measure this cognitively, certain clusters of ADHD or Autistic traits combined with unusual capabiltities in various cognitive domains written language, music, imagery etc. From that frame you could imagine how different perceptual categories have variable relevence and salience across the population. Remember the blue and black or gold and white dress optical illusion meme? There are various aspects of a film that can break your immersion (break the illusion) not limited to: unconvincing acting, contrived plot, or nonsensical world building, poor set design, outdatd special effects bad pacing and inappropriate tone. I might judge the BBC Sherlock series as lacking in verisimilitude because I can't help but find its worldbuilding unconvincing and it's plot twists contrived, and rather than geting absorbed into a flow state whilst watching the show I am distracted fighting with myself trying to forcefully suspend disbelief. vs For someone else the show might be brought to life by its aesthetic design eg the tilt shift photography/UI visualisation. Captivated by the show's emotional conflict between characters eg Watson the epathetic but wounded soldier limping after Sherlock a genius incapable of emotional connection. On one level its curious that we can even suspend disbelief about these unrealities. illusions, whether deceptive bullshit or imaginal insights, work on some people because heuristics/biases in their cognition can be predictably relied upon to find relevence in those saliences. Like how individuals might be drawn to specific virtues/vices but don't struggle with others. I think a lot of the above applies to science, magic, crime detectives and other mystery novels iwithin speculative fiction.

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myeyesblurry · 1 month

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i like the analysis from the crime genre fan and your answer. the most rational discussion ive seen since the explosion

Oh hey!!! Sorry, I privated this post. I love that you saw it, and I'm glad you agree. It really is, a mature and,erm, adult take on it. Truth is, we don't know the full situation, and (I privated it because of private information.) there really isn't much we can, really take on from it.

A messy break up, but what else is there to have any other way? They are a Partnered account. They both started with each other. This wasn't an open roleplay that they, came and went on, like with the Mycroft's Gregs' or Molly's and Jim's. They were Partners.

John should not have replaced Sherlock, especially without Sherlock's consent. Even if Sherlock is the aggressor, which is the 'reason' John is claiming, then it clearly was not a mutual agreement. (Even if Sherlock is not the aggressor, and is shocked and sad, or just in denial, or any other possibility.) When John realized it would not be clean, which John should have realized before the replacement, or the subsequent 'apology', he should have planned his escape, instead. And I mean this, in a neutral way. So his could be a neutral, "Oh I'm bored, I want to go in another direction, oh! They won't let me! Well, this *is* our partnered account. I will have to separate officially." But, that would have probably been before the replacement.

They would have statements, that they are no longer partnered together, and likely "Follow our new blog @ ". Seperately, as they would have new blogs, likely, with new players.

To play ignorant and just replace Sherlock, without a warning to the Viewers, was more of a sign of deception in my opinion. There's no way if Sherlock was so "toxic" John wouldn't know Sherlock would then play ignorant? I don't know man. The way John is still talking and Sherlock's been quiet, more people are getting messages from John, and this behavior, the harassment, - but that's going back and reading. I just got high when writing this I think I lost focus. Either way why did John just play ignorant and go posting, 1 that is confusing to the viewer, so thats just WEIRD right??? hello/?? lol and did he expect Sherlock to just keel over? like with the januarry blog sherlock shunned it and the january blog went to be a sherlock and co blog (with the john sherlock and co blog that blocked me the day i blocked john bbc blog) so he already knew sherlock wasn't accepting being talked over before

so if your partner really refuses to let go, fucking leave. it's the way hes not and then has gone around harassing anyone speaking out aginst him after that is fucking weird and shady.

#a scandal in tumblr #a scandle in literacy #mod post #answering had to private first #unprivating

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possiblyimbiassed · 3 years

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The lying liars who lie

Years and years late to the party, I’ve finally gotten my hands on all the DVDs of BBC Sherlock, and I thought it would be fun to watch the extra material carefully, one piece after another, and also listen to at least some of the show makers’ commentary of the episodes. But at this point, after S4 where DVDs seemed to be a constant lying device in general, I tend to look at them with a bit more suspicious eyes...

I still love the show of course, but now that I’ve taken this deep dive into all the special features, I find them a truly hard thing to try to wrap my head around. Even this long after the fact, I’m amazed by the amount of shameless, self-congratulatory BS in the DVDs, where the people involved can’t have enough of complimenting each other and their show, while they skillfully avoid to discuss anything actually meaningful about the plot line. ;) For example, Moffat claims in the S2 DVD that “In fact, you’ll never see a more obsessively authentic version of Sherlock Holmes than this one”. But if we follow their light-hearted commentary, which basically takes the show at face value, I’d call that not just hyperbole, but an outright lie. If you want to see the ‘authentic’ stories from ACD’s work in this show, you’ll definitely need to go much deeper into the subtext and meta levels - neither of which are mentioned on these DVDs of course. Here’s my own (rather subjective) ‘review’ of the whole thing, trying to pinpoint why I view most of the commentary of the show from its own makers as an advanced art of deception.

(My musings under the cut)

Series 1 - a wealth of extra material

First of all - as many of you probably knew already - the whole of the Unaired Pilot is added to the DVD of S1. In the extra material about the making of the series, they (Sue Vertue, Mofftiss and others) talk about what things they changed between the Pilot and ASiP, claiming that many changes were necessary improvements once they knew that they had a whole series and a lot more time at their disposal.

Which I can perfectly understand and agree with in general. But I think what’s missing in their discussions is more interesting than what’s actually there (”Mind the gap” ;) ). Things that I would expect from the show makers when they go to the trouble of comparing the pilot version with the aired product. There’s not a word, for example, about the fact that they added both Mycroft and Moriarty to the story in ASiP - two characters who later turn out to play major roles and appear in almost every other episode until the end of TFP. Or about the choice that one of the screenwriters would play Mycroft.

Neither do they discuss why they chose to relocate the place where Sherlock was challenged by the cabbie from 221B to Roland Kerr’s School of Further Education. Instead they focus on the details, like for example the new design of the interior of 221B.

Not to mention the fact that almost every scene in the Pilot is mirrored in ASiP (as pointed out long ago by @kateis-cakeis X), but at Angelo’s in the Pilot Sherlock follows the events with the cabbie while looking in an actual mirror. I even noticed that in the Pilot the cabbie is offering Sherlock dark-coloured bottles with the pills in them, while in ASiP those bottles are transparent, as if the cabbie is offering Sherlock to play Black or White in the chess game that he is simulating. What’s with all these mirrors, though? Not a word on the DVD... ;)

Now, even though these rather remarkable choices are neglected together with a great bunch of minor ones, I still think that the most interesting fact about all this is that they actually included the whole pilot version within this DVD, which is sold by the franchise. Why even do this, when it raises far more questions than it answers? The only logical reason I can come up with is that they’re laying out a track of little hints that anyone with a deep enough interest in the show to actually buy the DVDs can try to follow. And it seems to me that lying by omission is one of the first steps in the long line of cryptic and misleading author comments on this show. But at the same time, they clearly want the fans to have access to it all, even the abandoned version.

Moving on to Series 2, time for bigger lies

In the extra material of this DVD Benedict himself describes how his character "faces one of his deadliest enemies in the shape of Love, and it comes in the form of Irene Adler, who is this extraordinary dominatrix [insert here a bunch of superlatives regarding Adler]...”. And then we see how Adler whips Sherlock with a riding crop (without any kind of consent, I have to add) while he’s lying on the floor, and we have Lara Pulver telling us how it was to have a go at Benedict on set. So Holmes whips dead bodies and Adler whips living; seems like a match made in hell! :))

Gatiss claims, grinning with his whole face, that “they’re clearly, absolutely made for each other”. OK, so I think we can see Sherlock being intellectually impressed by Adler, and even trying to protect her from Mycroft, and we can see John acting jealously. We can also see her being dressed and styled as a perfect, female mirror of Sherlock. But I’m still at a loss what all this has to do with love on Sherlock’s part? Especially since he’s not even responding in any fashion to her various attempts at seducing him.

And there’s more: Paul McGuigan, the director of ASiB, claims that the scene where Sherlock has a conversation with Adler inside his Mind Palace about the crime case with the car that backfires "is a part of a kind of love story, if you like...” No, I don’t. Maybe it’s just me, but if their aim really was to convey to their audience a love story between Sherlock and The Woman, I think they failed miserably. All I see is a guy ’mansplaining’ to a clever woman how to use her brain, while she’s trying to flirt with him by expressing her admiration (to no avail, though) and make deductions at the same time. Nothing new under the sun, really. John did the same thing repeatedly in ASiP (without making own deductions) and got far more attention from Sherlock, but I’ve never heard any of the show makers call that ”a love story”. But by ’lie-splaining’ the scene with Irene to the audience, they try to manipulate us all to see it as such...

In all the direct commentary of this episode, where Steven, Mark, Sue, Benedict and Lara are present, I get the impression that every time they even touch on the relationship between Sherlock and John, they hurry to add the term “friendship” or “man love” or similar words in case they forgot them at first, avoiding even the tiniest possibility that there could be anything more going on between them. They even explain that when Irene calls them “a couple” she does not mean anything romantic. This whole approach feels almost paranoic in the midst of all the laid-back jokes and light-hearted talk about the filming. It’s as if a sort of restrictive, heteronormative filter or blanket is being constantly applied, to teach the audience the ‘no homo’ lesson of it all. And the more I listen to this, the more tiresome it becomes.

In the commentary Moffat does reveal an interesting detail, though: that the ‘Flight of the Dead’ in ASiB was inspired by a cut out scene in the Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. To me this is just one more reason to question the ‘authentic’ quality of this scene, as opposed to possibly taking place in Sherlock’s Mind Palace. But I digress...

Listening to the commentary in general, it’s like it’s aimed to distract the attention from what’s going on at the screen rather than highlight it and try to explain their intentions. They do mention that Irene didn’t actually ‘beat’ Sherlock in the end of ASiB, but there’s no explanation of this obvious deviation from canon, where Adler does indeed fool Holmes, taking advantage of his prejudices.

The rest of the extra material of S2 is mostly about technical stuff, special effects and such, and also about filming techniques and Benedict’s delivery of fast deductions. But the part I really do love is the one where Andrew Scott talks about how much he enjoyed playing the scene where Moriarty dances before breaking into the Crown Jewels. That’s one of my favorite scenes of he whole show. :) Also, the takeaway message from this DVD is Moffat’s words at the end:

“These are still the formative years of Sherlock Holmes, and the most important thing about this series is not that it’s updated; it’s the fact that those two men are still young and they’re still at the beginning of what they don’t yet know is gonna be a lifelong partnership”.

And then comes Series 3...

...and its extra material, with the most blatant attempts at deception so far, I believe. At this point Sherlock is called a “psychopath” by both the show’s characters, John’s blog, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as if it were true, which is a big deviation from ACD canon. That simply doesn’t happen there; while Holmes is sometimes described as eccentric, no one in the books is ever claiming that Sherlock Holmes has some kind of mental illness leaning towards cruelty and egotism - not even his enemies say this about him. In the show, however, they begin in ASiP with making him torture a dying man for information (something that is not included in the Pilot). And in S3, where they avoid discussing the reason why they turned Mary Morstan into a ruthless assassin, this major shift is glossed over by the fact that in the same episode (HLV) they also turn Sherlock into a murderer, who cold-bloodedly blows the brains out of a blackmailer for threatening to make said assassin’s crimes public.

But without ever getting into the “why” of it all, the cast and crew seem overly happy and smiling describing these rather morbid choices as something positive; “fantastic”, "fresh and new” and "amazing” are their choice of words. Benedict claims that Mary, who has literally shot and almost killed Sherlock in HLV, is now "a new best friend of Sherlock’s”. Amanda claims that Mary “is protecting John” when she shoots Sherlock in the chest. Now they’re both psychopaths, and poor little John is forced to stomach them both because he’s addicted to danger. In Amanda’s words, Mary also “kind of gets in between the two of them, but she wants them to be together as well”. Which is a load of BS considering that Mary tries to kill the protagonist of the story.

Lars Mikkelsen thinks it’s “such a good script” because “you’re mislead as an audience”. But he never gets the chance to expand on what the misleading actually contains, because then Mofftiss cut in to express how much they love playing with “what ifs”. As if this whole mega-budget project of a show were just a big experimental playground without any actual story to tell.

Benedict repeats his line from HLV that Magnussen “preys on people who are different” and Moffat also says he “exploits people who are different”. Which is really confusing, considering what we can see Magnussen actually do in the show. Lady Smallwood and John Garvie are two well-established, powerful governmental politicians whom Magnussen blackmails by finding their respective pressure points. In Garvie’s case his pressure point seems to be alcohol problems in his past, but according to media he’s later arrested on charges of corruption. Lady Smallwood is blackmailed on the basis of her husband having sent compromising letters to a minor many years ago, in spite of later claiming that he thought she was older and stopped when he found out the truth. And then Magnussen is blackmailing an assassin who recently threatened to execute him but shot Sherlock Holmes instead, in order to try to get at Sherlock’s brother Mycroft, another powerful governmental figure.

But what does media seeking out dirt on certain people in power and their families have to do with “people who are different”? Despicable as the method may be, isn’t this unfortunately how political power play usually works in our society? Or are TPTB somehow a repressed minority group now? Unless this whole “people who are different” accusation is actually about something entirely different, something that none of the show makers even cares to mention... ;)

In these DVDs, none of the involved persons is ever discussing the change of roles with regards to canon, though, or the (lack of) logics in this turn of events, or even a hint about the narrative motivation behind them. It’s all about the great Drama, the extraordinary visual effects and the aim to endlessly “surprise the audience”. Which is fine by me to a certain extent, but when this is all that’s being said, it feels extremely superficial, as if the audience is merely seen as a bunch of consumers that have to be triggered more and more by horror, special effects and cliff hangers to be able to appreciate the show. (“Warm paste” indeed, like Gatiss has later criticized some viewers of wanting...) While the "why”; the idea behind this surrealistic adaptation, made by self-proclaimed fanboys of ACD, is not even touched upon. Around this, the silence is total and therefore totally confusing.

Maybe I shouldn’t even go into Series 4...

...but why not, since I’ve already started? :)

First of all, there’s a lot of extra material on this DVD and I particularly love the parts about the music and composing and Arwel Wyn Jones’ work with the design and build-up of John’s and Mary’s flat and the interior of 221B. Those bits are truly enjoyable. What I could live without, though, is the leading commentary that kind of instructs us, the audience, how we should interpret the show.

Benedict is on it again on this DVD, telling us that in TST they picked up where they left off in S3 and “It’s a very happy unit of three people that then become four.” Why does he feel the need to make this statement, considering how S3 ended? Actually, if there’s anything I totally fail to see in S4, it’s happiness. The banter between the three of them may seem entertaining for a while, but who could have a relaxed, warm relationship with someone who tried and almost succeeded to kill you less than a year ago? Without any sign of remorse? Now there’s a dark tone of discomfort and mean jokes that feels forced and not even a bit happy to me.

But Martin tells us how excited John and Mary are about starting a family and Amanda mentions how much they’re looking forward to the baby. Again and again it’s repeated, as though trying to rub it in: “they’re in a good place, they’re a loving, married couple”. Yeah, right - a child that (judging by TSoT) wasn’t at all planned and now with an assassin for a mother... Twice we see the new parents complain that their daughter has the mark of Satan on her forehead and debate which horror movie she’s from. The clichéd hypocrisy of it all is sickening, and I’m willing to bet that it’s really meant to be. ;)

But Gatiss chimes in, deciding for us all that the christening of Rosie is “a funny scene” and “they’re enjoying each other, enjoying being on adventures as a three”.

An interesting detail is that Gatiss also tells us that the working name of this episode was “The Adventure of the Melting power Ranger”. So this little blue guy was that important? :) And - even more interesting - is when he says: “Cake is now the code for violent death”. So how should we interpret Sherlock, John and Molly going out to have cake in TLD then, on Sherlock’s (supposed) birthday?

These might be jokes, though, but when they tell us that Sue cries every time she sees Mary’s death I strongly believe they must be joking. How could anyone feel truly moved by this overly sentimental long monologue where far more efforts are put into reacting to Mary’s speech than saving her life? And John’s mooing like a cow, is that also moving? :)

One thing Martin says about TLD that actually disgusts me is regarding the morgue scene where John assaults Sherlock and Sherlock lets it happen: “From there, really, their relationship can only sort of rebuild, that’s the absolute worst it can get”. As if outright physical abuse would be something that makes you want to rebuild a relationship? Wow - just wow... How far can they go with this crap?

Anyway, when we finally arrive at the absurdity of TFP and Sherlock’s ‘secret sister’, everything is of course discussed as if she actually does exist on the given premises, and everything she does is ‘real’, no matter how impossible it would be in real life. The abandonment of any attempt to have the story line make logical sense is skillfully covered up by more distraction with fascinating technicalities of the film making process. This is where Gatiss makes his now almost classic statement that after Sherlock and John jump out of the window at 221B when a grenade explodes there, it’s just “Boop! And they’re fine.”

Of course there’s no serious attempt at explaining this logically. Except perhaps Gatiss claiming that they both landed on Speedy’s awning - whatever good that would do to them, since the awning is leaning downwards, but never mind... But we never even saw that happen, did we? A great deal of time is then dedicated to show all the precautions to have Martin and Ben jumping safely at low level onto a madras supported by empty cardboard boxes.

Sian Brooke did say something interesting about Sherrinford, however, that got me thinking. She said that Eurus “wants revenge for the years and years that she has been held captive” there, isolated, and that in TFP the Holmes children are now “lab rats” and “it’s an experiment”. On a meta level, I think we can indeed see this episode - and maybe the whole show - as a kind of experiment, but maybe we, the audience, are also lab rats? Since Sherrinford is slightly shaped like a film camera (not commented in the extra material, of course), it leads my thought to all the adaptations through the years and years where Holmes and Watson have not been allowed to be together. A whole century when Sherlock Holmes has been held captive, restricted by the very same sort of heteronormative filter that all this extra material imposes; it’s like Sherrinford, isn’t it? Which gives all the more meaning to Moriarty’s arrival to the island, accompanied by Freddy Mercury’s “I want to break free”...

I think I’ll let the final words in this little exposé come from Mark Gatiss in The Writers’ Chat (my bolding):

“Moriarty is a fascinating thing in that in our sea of ongoing lies, one thing we’ve genuinely been completely consistent about is telling people he’s dead. But no-one believes it! And it’s a rather brilliant thing.” Again - self-congratulatory statements. But instead of providing some actual evidence of the death of this character, who has kept popping up in almost every episode since his supposed demise, they think that the more a confirmed liar repeats something, the truer it gets? And the more we’re supposed to believe them? Well, all we can do is wait and see. :)

Tagging some people who might be interested:

@raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @sarahthecoat @gosherlocked @lukessense @sagestreet @thepersianslipper

My earlier meta on a similar topic (X)

#bbc sherlock dvds #Deception in BBC Sherlock

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honeypiehotchner · 4 years

Text

Deception (John Watson x OFC) -- epilogue

It has been a long and wild ride, but this story has come to an end. Thank you guys for reading! And I’m sorry there was such a big hiatus between parts, but thank you for sticking around. All my love xxxx. (I know the gif isn’t from Sherlock but shhhhhhh)

I’m having a baby girl.

Well, eventually. I’m only about four months right now, and the ultrasound technician got a little excited and revealed the sex before I could tell her I’d rather be surprised. No harm done, though, at least now I know for sure.

I finally got a phone a few weeks ago. It’s easier to have one when you’re pregnant, I’m learning. The doctor needs a number to call to remind me of appointments, I need a phone to call them, and after reconnecting to my sister, Crystal, I needed a phone to text her, too.

I haven’t told her about my assignment in London with Sherlock, and I won’t ever if I can help it. It’s been nice to not think or talk about it since I left. I’ve been able to push that part of my life away and move on.

Well, sort of. It’s hard not to be reminded of John when I have his babygirl nestled inside of me.

But she’s mine as much as she is his. Maybe one day she’ll meet him, but I won’t get her hopes up – or mine. I haven’t heard from him since the night Sherlock returned, and I’d like to keep it that way. As if I have much of a choice. He’s probably enjoying his life with Sherlock again, solving cases and saving the world.

Anyway, speaking of my sister, she’s supposed to come over today. Something about yoga is good for pregnancy. She’s had two children, a boy named Colin and a girl named Elizabeth, if you can believe it. I’m an aunt and I had no idea! I’m listening to her as much as I can. I have no clue what I’m doing here, but I trust her to help me.

I’m changing into a sports bra and leggings when the doorbell rings. I don’t bother yelling out because I’m sure that’s her. Normally she rings the doorbell as a courtesy to let me know she’s coming in. It’s an unspoken rule we developed after she came inside (she knocked, but I didn’t hear her) and scared the living daylights out of me. I’m just glad I didn’t pull a gun on her, because that would’ve made things worse.

It rings a second time. I shake my head. Once I’m done dressing myself (and she’s rung the doorbell a third time), I make my way to the front door.

“Did you forget your key—?” My sentence is cut short by the familiar face staring back at me.

It’s not my sister. Not even close.

“John,” I blurt. “What…What are you doing here?”

“I um…” He pauses, looking about as spooked as I feel. “Mycroft told me where you were, I thought I’d come…say hi.”

“You took a plane from England just to say hi?” I say aloud, but inwardly I say, I’m going to kill Mycroft Holmes the second I get the chance.

“Yes,” John says, still staring like a deer caught in the headlights.

He’s making an enormous effort to keep his eyes on my face and not my belly, which I do respect, but I can tell it’s taking everything out of him. Mycroft must’ve told him. Or Sherlock sensed it too, but just never told me. The bastard.

“Uh, come in.” My back is beginning to hurt and I’d like to sit down, and John looks too terrified to be doing anything besides sitting still.

He walks inside and I close the door behind him, my head still spinning. The last thing I expected was for John Watson to show up outside my door. Four months. And now I’m inviting him into my home.

I walk into the living room, glancing over my shoulder to see he’s following me. I take a seat on the couch, gesturing for him to do the same. He does, stiffly. He’s barely moving at all.

We sit in silence for what feels like ages until he says something.

“Is it mine?”

I figured he’d ask that. It took him longer than I thought it would to ask.

“I don’t know,” I reply truthfully. “But there’s no one else I’ve had sex with in the last year, so my bet is yes. She is.”

John turns his head, and I swear I see tears rimming his bottom lashline. “She?”

I nod. “She.” I rest my hand over my stomach, smiling softly. “She’s a baby girl. She’s strong. She’s already moving.”

John lets out a laugh, his shoulders finally relaxing. He hangs his head, his chin resting against his chest as he whispers, “A baby girl.”

“Look, John,” I pause, waiting for him to look at me. “You don’t have to do anything for her. Or for me because of her. I understand. I won’t list you as the father if you’d like to just…put this behind you. I won’t ask you to pay child support or anything like that. I just—” I take a deep breath, steadying myself. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want it to seem like I was holding it over your head. Don’t feel obligated to be here or be with me just because of her. I don’t want to do that to you. Or her.”

There’s tears streaming down my cheeks by the time I’m finished and tears shining in John’s eyes as he watches me. I wipe the droplets away hastily, getting myself together. I can’t believe it’s the first time I’m seeing him in months and I’m crying. How pathetic.

John scoots closer to me. I hold a breath in my throat, waiting for his next move, positive he’s going to thank me and agree that he should leave this all behind.

I don’t know what else I expect, but it isn’t what he does.

John gently wipes my tears away, even when more fall because of how soft his touch is and how much I’ve longed for it. It takes no time at all before I’m sobbing into his chest, his arms cradling me protectively.

“Shh,” he murmurs. “I’m here. I’m so sorry I never chased after you. It wasn’t your fault you got caught in the middle of things.”

All of the words I’ve longed to hear him say since I left London are spilling from his lips. His hand rests on the back of my head, keeping me close, rocking back and forth to calm me.

“If it makes you feel any better at all, I nearly killed Sherlock when he told me everything.”

I laugh shakily, burying my face into his shoulder. “I wanna kill him, too.”

“Eh, it’s alright,” John murmurs, rubbing circles into my back. “I’m sure we’ll get the chance one day.”

“Yeah,” I chuckle, lifting my head. I wipe my face on my hands, rolling my eyes. “I’m sorry. I probably look like a mess.”

John shakes his head. “Never.”

I give him a look. “You’re only saying that because you love me.”

“And because it’s the truth,” he replies. “Jane—Or Nicole?”

“Jane,” I squeeze his hands. “I’m always Jane when I’m with you. I like it much better. I always have, secretly.”

“Okay,” John breathes, smiling. “Jane, if you’ll have me, would you…Would you come home? With me?”

I nod. “Please. If you’ll have me, too.”

“I’ll always have you,” John whispers. “Don’t ever doubt it.”

His lips mold against mine like they were specifically fitted just for me. Inside the safe haven that is my stomach, our daughter lightly moves, as if sensing that her father has come back to her.

John’s hand rests on my belly with a wide smile. He gasps when he feels the lightest kick before she stops, resting once more.

#Deception #john watson #John Watson x OFC #John Watson x original female character #john watson x reader #john watson x you #john watson x original main character #fluff #some tiny angst #bbc sherlock #bbc sherlock fanfic #bbc sherlock fanfiction #john watson fanfic #john watson fanfiction #bbc john watson #the ending!!!#ahhhhh #love you guys

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princessbutler1316 · 2 years

Text

Next one in my analysis is: Professor Moriarty

As Moriarty has several names I will name each one in each version

Sherlock Holmes Original Books

Before you say: "but I never picked up a classic book because it's racist, xenophobic and homophobic"

Read my post talking about it:

The Final Problem (1893)

It was intended to be the final Holmes story, ending with the character's death.

Professor James Moriarty, the arch-enemy of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, a mathematics professor turned master criminal. His genius is acknowledged by even Holmes himself to be on par with him. "He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them." ―Sherlock Holmes to Dr Watson speaking about Professor Moriarty [src]

He was the world's only "consulting criminal"; a stark contrast to his nemesis Sherlock Holmes' similarly unrivaled "consulting detective" occupation.

He have only two appearances and still managed to win readers around the world, just an old man with a criminal network.

Sherlock BBC (2010)

Synopsis

Dr Watson, a former army doctor, finds himself sharing a flat with Sherlock Holmes, an eccentric individual with a knack for solving crimes. Together, they take on the most unusual cases

Jim Moriarty

He developed his skills at criminal activities and went on to create a large criminal organisation which would stretch across the whole globe.

One of the most charismatic villains that have been adapted, it's amazing how he fools Sherlock several times, though....It would be better if they left him dead and not act like his remnant still rules the criminal underworld

Elementary (2012)

Synopsis

Sherlock, a recovering drug addict, and Joan Watson, a former surgeon hired to aid Sherlock in his rehabilitation, help the New York Police Department solve difficult crimes.

Jamie Moriarty

Jamie Moriarty is the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. After Holmes interrupted several of her plans when he worked for Scotland Yard, she tricked him into falling in love with her so she could study him, yes they f*****.

In this scenario Jamie is the Woman aka Irene Adler, so yes Irene and Sherlock also cannon in this one and MORIARTY AND SHERLOCK TOO

She is a character that no one suspects until out of nowhere she becomes the owner of the world's criminal network, a plot twist that no one expects.

If you're going to do a genderswap remember her, she is a great example of how to do this.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Synopsis

It is the sequel to the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes. When Austria's crown prince is found dead, evidence seems to point to suicide. However, detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) deduces that the prince was murderedand that the crime is but a piece of a puzzle designed by an evil genius named Moriarty (Jared Harris).

James Moriarty

While he appears to be a respectable mathematics professor, Moriarty is in fact a criminal mastermind who oversees a massive network of crime and deception.

This one is very similar to the original proposal of the book and I think it fulfills the role of king of the underworld well.

Kabukichou Sherlock (Case File nº221: Kabukicho) or 歌舞伎町シャーロック (2019)

Synopsis

In Shinjuku ward's east side lies Kabukichou, a vibrant city of chaos that glows brilliantly with neon lights but also hides unseen darkness. Employed at a university hospital on the west side, John H. Watson is looking for someone who can assist him with an odd case. His search leads him to the Pipe Cat, an underground bar that serves as a meet up venue and job board for some of the best detectives in Shinjuku, the most prominent among them being Sherlock Holmes.

James "Moriarty" MORAN

He is Moran's son...yeah don't ask just watch

He is a kid, yeah...

In contrast to Sherlock, James is a cheerful and affable individual. He's also shown to care a lot for the Kabukichou Irregulars as he visits them quite often. The delinquent kids in the city refer to him as their "captain" and follow them around. Sherlock considers him to be a friend as John Watson also warms up to them. Early in the series it is hinted at that James has a dark side that is commonly associated with Moriarty.

Yuukoku no Moriarty, Moriarty The patriot or 憂国のモリアーテイ (Manga: 2016- present) ( Anime: 2020-2021, OVA: 2022)

This series is the reason I threw Johnlock from the window

Synopsis

It focuses on the youth of Holmes' nemesis, William James Moriarty.

William James Moriarty or Liam( the nickname his husband Sherlock gave him)

He is crime consultant. Liam wants to use his power and knowledge to come up with the perfect crimes in hopes of ending the class system and reforming society.

He is also a Math teacher on Durham's University ( and gay as hell, he loves his Sherly very much)

He also have two HOT brothers Louis James Moriarty (his biological brother) and Albert James Moriarty. The three share the name of James Moriarty and they are the Lord of Crime.

Moriarty here just wants to build equal rights between the two social classes, the poor and the nobles.

This is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes actions that even though it's a spin-off deserves a chance I prefer the manga to the anime.

Give this Moriarty a hug and I think this one deserves a hug

Lupin the Third- Part 6 (2021)

Synopsis

The infamous Arsene Lupin III takes his gang of thieves to Great Britain to investigate the existence of the Raven's hidden treasure.

We don't know a lot of details, but with Moran appearing on the show soon and him quoting "The Professor" he will appear soon .

He is apparently a crime consultant and probably a math teacher like the original...Nothing too crazy

We don't know if is a woman or a man, but we know the Moriarty network is there or is Raven itself.

Well if TMS do something crazy about this character... It's fine I guess... The only crazy thing they can do is Moriarty ending up killing Holmes, and even it's not crazy....I mean Doyle wanted The Final Problem being his last work with Sherlock...so yeah...

If the person is Lestrade, well... they've already turned Irene Adler into Moriarty and Moriarty being Moran's son, it wouldn't be the craziest thing they've done on the show....

But he/she will show up at some point because where there's Moran there's Moriarty.

Okay, this is after I watched the new trailer and only a theory: Moriarty being Lupin's mom??? Creative, I can live with that after many versions of Moriarty(and after 2021... honestly nothing surprises anymore), I can't complain about that (lol this make Moran's Lupin step father....THIS KEEP GETTING BETTER)

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brawltogethernow · 4 years

Note

So on the whole, how useful would you say Death Note is for teaching someone how to write a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters that's at least... 50% watertight?

General disclaimer that I haven’t touched the source material directly in many years, and all my dn posts are me feeling my feelings. But yeah, I can shake my 8-ball about this.

There are two components to dn’s approach to “a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters”, and they’re only roughly stapled together. There’s the rivalry/characterization part, which is both compelling and silly, and is mostly about aesthetic. That never really concludes in a satisfying way. It’s not TRYING to, because the characters are pretty much there to hold up the thought experiment premise, which demands a lot of grit and unpoetic death and not solid foundations of character/relationship work. Like there’s stuff there but you’re really deep-mining for it and doing a lot of the work yourself, and that’s by design. All of the character arcs, which are pretty thin on the ground, trend in a negative/dismantling direction (because it’s a tragedy), and few of the relationships play out all the potential they have (because it’s not a tragedy about relationships).

The character aspect of the chessmaster stuff is heavily reliant on the conceit that once people are smart enough they will start reaching the same conclusions in the same way. Like there’s a single most ideal train of thought for every situation that even people who should have very different thought processes will reach with the assistance of enough little gray cells. This isn’t uncommon in smartboi stories, but dn went absolutely ham on it, if you want to make a study of that trope.

The biggest takeaway there is probably noting how the creative team seems to have been unaware that a lot of their audience was actually buying into that between the lead and their rival as a “meant to be enemies” kind of thing and didn’t realize that faction would be less interested once it became obvious that no, all geniuses in this world are taking turns using one brain. I’ll freely admit I deliberately misread this element to maximize my own investment.

Then there are the tricks and puzzles. The odd logical hole is inevitable, but overall they’re solid. They’re also just procedural plots delivered in a less formulaic story than that usually makes one think of. There’s nothing distinguishing them from the weekly puzzle of a House episode or a Detective Conan arc except for raw creativity and panache. There is rarely any characterization going on whatsoever. The twists require players, but you never get the sense that only whoever is being pulled to act could fill their part. They’re always stand-ins for perfectly generic individuals, putting their distinctive quirks and intense personal philosophies aside. This is that idea that there’s one way of thinking that everyone is accessing at staggered intelligence levels in play again. People are simplified until they can be pieces in contraptions no more complex than Light’s exploding desk drawer trap.

This is why the trick plots of dn don’t get pored over a lot by fans. They’re looped too loosely to the rest of the story to have an emotional impact that will make them memorable long-term. They’re deceptively simple, too. Kind of the opposite of a story twist that makes you rethink everything that came before it in a new light. You can’t dismantle dn and reassemble it like pentominoes very easily. A lot of it is grand set pieces, and if you tease out any of the puzzle plots they sort of lose structural integrity and flake away. This is why most canon divergence fic for dn is “diverging” by asking the question “what if Light were less of a shit”.

Ultimately, Death Note only gives the impression of being a complex engine made of moving parts. Its strong suit is its showmanship. It’s very good at carrying you along from twist to twist in a state of mild beffudlement that doesn’t quite escalate to belligerent and securing that “Oh wow! That was clever!” reaction. The mastermind-offs of are deceptively static, pretty much coming down to one party either failing or succeeding to thwart a plot laid out by another in advance without a lot of combating each others’ machinations in real time. Once resolved, twists vanish from the consciousness like disappearing gold. There’s no fiber to them, just flash.

This isn’t critique! Most elements of this story do what they’re deployed to do. (If the tricks needed workshopping, people would analyze them more, ironically.)

I’m myself shit at (de)constructing brain tingler twists and can’t really identify if dn’s are useful for instruction purposes. Not for people who don’t already have a natural talent for them, I guess! It might be interesting to identify why they’re not immediately identifiable as bloodless trick plots, except I suspect it might just be that the rest of dn is so insane and dissimilar from stories that usually contain those? Like I already compared it to two Holmes descendants, and it definitely has BBC Sherlock “let the asshole speak, genii are a protected species” vibes, and the criminal protagonist facing off with a detective premise is Arsene Lupin-y, yet I still feel weird identifying Death Note itself as in this broader genre because *gestures to all of it*.

It’s the least formula-reliant example of the breed I can think of right now, which is neat. (Annnnd also definitely feeds in to people being dissatisfied with it because they miscalled what it was trying to be. Dn is just generally pretty unique, and I imagine the team was making up a lot of its playbook from scratch as it went along, which leaves the audience in kind making up the experience of consuming it.)

All of the above is incidentally why dn is infamous for being very compelling in the moment but then having people revisit thinking about it and decide the he-knows-that-I-know-that-he-knows conceit is actually ridiculous and needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

So uh. This all SOUNDS like bad form, but that’s arguably me being a basic bitch who “likes when plot and character and aesthetic inform each other”, and that’s just fundamentally not what Death Note is. Also it’s kind of a lofty starting goal and writing is hard. Like! This approach worked! We are discussing a very successful property with many fans. (And a weirdly finite cultural impact for its popularity but this isn’t necessarily why.) I guess this is an acceptable playbook, and the takeaway is that you CAN successfully Frankenstein together different unconnected storytelling methods, and it will look dazzling and impressive and barely leave any of your readership feeling confused and hollow inside and likely to return and make fun of themselves for accidentally liking your work wrong.

Oh, also, dn as do’s and don’t’s of building a mastermind character. Do give headlining characters eye-catching, memetic traits. Don’t fail to trace those traits down so they actually represent something at your character’s core because you crossed over the line from “spinning characters out as foils and parallels who compare and contrast to each other in interesting ways” into “all of your smart characters are basically the same challenge-seeking misanthrope stamped with different surface features” -- except WHO ELSE IS GOING TO HAVE THAT PROBLEM? THAT’S NOT NORMAL.

So yeah you COULD study Death Note, or you could binge some crime dramas and then some X-Men issues that have battles in the center of the mind over the same weekend and get basically the same net effect.

#death note #mirrorfalls #asks answered

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