Meta Rec: M-Theory: Mycroft, Moriarty, and Magnussen's Shared Motifs

[swissmarg]

Title: M-theory: Mycroft, Moriarty, and Magnussen’s shared motifs, James Bond’s “M,” Mary and Janine, and the big gay long game
On Tumblr (with embedded audio) / On AO3 (downloadable but without audio)
Author: Loudest_Subtext_in_Television
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 85,989 words
Rating: Unrated
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Meta analysis of series 1, 2, and 3. Moriarty is alive and controlling Mycroft, Mary and Janine are Moriarty’s minions, Moriarty maneuvered Sherlock into killing Magnussen, Moriarty wants Sherlock to be his boyfriend, and Mycroft has been pushing John and Sherlock together romantically from the start.

Reccer's comments: Okay, look. TJLC.* That's this meta's agenda, and it pushes it hard. But even if you don't really care what the series creators intended or who's meant to be with whom, this piece is incredibly well put together and highly entertaining.

The theory is based to a large extent on an analysis of the musical score and staging, and a reading will thus be slightly impoverished by leaving out the audio and video components and images that are linked throughout, but they're not absolutely necessary if you're willing to accept that what the author says is in the clips is actually in the clips.

The author goes through each episode, meticulously pointing out evidence and building up support for their thesis, as outlined in the summary. The writing can be sassy and irreverent, alternately getting into the characters' heads and having imaginary conversations with them, as in this analysis of the pool scene in The Great Game:

Get real: Sherlock's just not that into you. Look at your life. Look at your choices. You know Sherlock could ruin your whole enterprise. This shit is why love is a chemical defect found in the losing side.

Jim then claims he was just "playing gay" and it was all a game.

...Alright, honey. Keep telling yourself that. Irene will try to claim it was just a game, too.

Sherlock, ordinary and disappointing, says, "People have died," and Jim screams, "That's what people DO!" If only Sherlock were more of a sociopath, right? Then he'd be relationship material. God.

Meanwhile, John wishes Sherlock were less of a sociopath so he'd be relationship material.

Sigh. Everyone's a critic.

It's not just a stream-of-consciousness series of one-liners, though. The arguments are presented and supported clearly, logically, and in great detail, and whether you end up being convinced or not, it's a very compelling - and fun - way of viewing the first three series.

* = The Johnlock Conspiracy: the belief that the series creators have intended either for John and Sherlock to be secret lovers all along, or that the 'endgame' of the series will be John/Sherlock.

Comments

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

I'll have to give this one another try. I devoured "Softly, Softly," but foundered on this piece. Probably because I was reading on a tablet & didn't have access to the audio/visual material.

As an aside, I didn't know that one aspect of TJLC was that they may eventually be revealed to have been secret lovers the whole time, a la Mulder & Scully. I'll admit that I found that reveal at the end of X-Files pretty unsatisfying, so I'm hoping they don't go in that direction!

[swissmarg]

Oh, well maybe that's just my interpretation of TJLC. In this meta it's only the aspect of the series ending up with John and Sherlock together. This meta doesn't suggest that they are actually together all along.

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. 86K of meta is something I MUST read, and yet it's going to break my brain all over again. My mind is spinning just from looking at the table of contents and the summary. Thank you so much for reccing this. I am a total soundtrack nerd, and am especially enamoured of this season's OST (which just won an Emmy, tyvm! Deservedly!) That this includes sound cues as part of the subtext makes me deliriously happy. I'm not on Tumblr, so I'm much obliged for you pointing me at the post.
*head spins*

[swissmarg]

It sounds like this is right up your alley then. I hope you have fun with it!

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

This was amazing to read. :) Have fun :))))

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

If I run over any metas that talk about sound I will link them to you. I know I have read some interesting ones. Here is one of my favorite metas on Mary Mary Morstan (http://sylviatietjens.co.vu/post/73460662599/another-three-episodes-another-series-finished)

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

It took me some time to read every word but I enjoyed myself :)

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

I'm holding off starting right away. I have a feeling it's going to rock my world a lot, and I'm almost sure this is going to mess with my head for a while. Just the summary is astounding enough.
Also, I want Moriarty to be dead. Too many people came back from irreversible death on that show, so if Moriarty comes back, it'll feel cheap. I'm still thinking he's a twin or a triplet, so if the crazy one died and left a more stable brother, I could accept that. Too many cheats would make me irritated.

[swissmarg]

Well, remember this is just a fan's ideas. It's not necessarily what's really going on, or what's really going to happen. But it sure is an interesting way to look at things!

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

But they are very exciting theories, lol! And backed up with so much evidence that they are hard to discount, even temporarily until we get actual canon to confirm or refute.
It's gotten to the point with JKR and all her new canon data that I don't even want to read it. The Snupin shipper in me does not want to know that Lupin never fell in love before Tonks, that kind of thing. Ugh. This is kind of the same thing. I'm afraid of learning something that will set new fixed points in the world that might upset me. Fanfic is one thing, we can ignore fans versions of things. but canon I want to adore. Fortunately, many of the theories in the summary are things I'd heard of/thought of already, so I'm not terribly wary. Also, I'd be so happy if Mycroft really has been matchmaking since the get-go. He's a good brother. :)

[swissmarg]

I agree with you on Rowling and 'new canon' info. I don't count that as canon at all. In my opinion, if it's not in the text, it's not canon. Anything beyond that is just interpretation. Honestly, I don't think we'll ever really know what the creators of Sherlock had in mind. And it's better that way.

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

It will be awesome, yet so many strong brilliant ideas most I hope are right.

[chapbook.livejournal.com]

Thank you for recc'ing this! Whatever one may think of the conclusions come to in this set of metas, this is a genuinely important work in the fandom and definitely should be memorialized here. The author has been a class act too, despite being the center of controversy on Tumblr. I think the fun and optimism in LSiT's work really makes it attractive.

Personally, I'd love if the writers went in this direction with MyHo and MaMo in S4/5, but if they don't, I hope some of our talented fandom writers explore it in fic form, especially the MH part of things.

A note for anyone new to TJLC:
The "conspiracy" part of the name was and is intended as a joke, as in "it's something hidden in plain sight"; IOW, not much of a "secret conspiracy" after all.