221b_recs | Meta Rec: Sherlock and the Posthuman

Title: Sherlock and the Posthuman
Author: don-gately
Pairing: Gen
Length: 1,861
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Author's summary: None by the author, but it is a character-centric meta focused on Sherlock's characterization arc via his increasingly unsuccessful attempts to live up to his flawed version of the posthuman ideal: the separation of the mind from the body and its messy emotions and needs.

Reccer's comments: The third series of Sherlock has inspired a body of brilliant meta, which provided insights into the show's characters, plot, and visual elements. Unsurprisingly, Sherlock himself was the focus of many metas, including this first-rate effort by don-gately (who sadly remains in an extended hiatus). In it d-g argues that Sherlock is a very much a man of the digital era:
Sherlock really is a sort of cyborg, or fancies himself as such: someone who can do away with the inconvenient sides of being a material being (including all those hormones and emotions, gasp) and use mechanics as an extension of his own brain.

Although posthumanism is associated with the late 20th and 21st centuries, Sherlock’s version of it dovetails well with canon Holmes's taking to extremes the older notion of liberal humanism and the Victorian ideals of upholding the rational intellect, placing it above physical, especially sexual, needs and desires. As the author methodically takes us through the three series and then each episode, it becomes clear that the show's primary Sherlock-centric arc is the journey from great to good man (ASiP), which for him will mean the breaking down of this incorrect version of the posthuman ideal and the slow, painful acceptance of his embodied humanity, that his body is intermeshed with his mind _and_ technology. He no longer will be able to pretend that he is a cyborg or a wired brain in a jar.

Many fans have complained that Sherlock is suddenly OOC in S3, but don-gately deftly illustrates how we gradually got from point A (when the faulty version of the posthuman ideal is firmly in place) to points B and C (from S2 onwards the ideal is increasingly challenged until Sherlock begins breaking down, leading to a series of serious failures in HLV). By doing so, the author convincingly challenges the notion that the Sherlock of S3 is somehow suddenly a failure and/or a failure to no good purpose. Realize that we are at the crisis point in Sherlock's journey, a necessary part of a good characterization arc. Moreover, this battle and its painful consequences must continue for a time (see the writers’ hints about S4) as Sherlock struggles to achieve what d-g calls "entropy": "Sherlock is in the process of achieving thermodynamic equilibrium between 'caring is not an advantage' and pumping himself full of drugs to forget his misery. He’s a man of extremes, but it is not viable on the long run and those extremes have to be reconciled for him to be a good man AND a great man." Making Sherlock's journey too easy and straightforward would shortchange his character growth, throw off the pacing of his arc and seriously damage the quality of a show that is clearly centered on the evolution of its two main characters, Sherlock and John, and their relationship. I for one cannot wait to see Sherlock truly embrace his post/humanity.

**I should note that a couple of the quotes are in academic speak, but most of the text is user friendly, with d-g communicating their argument in plainer language.