Fact is he died, he flatlined and did the impossible because this is a TV show.

besleybean wrote:

Of course.

I'm going to have difficulty "swallowing it" too, unless they add in some further explanation.  How are we supposed to believe that a shot designed to be safe and not kill him, virtually killed him?   We're all trying to come up with explanations for how that might be, but we need an explanation from the writers: to have Sherlock or Mary or someone explain what went wrong. 

Sherlock says that Mary saved his life by calling an ambulance, and that the ambulances, on average, take 8 minutes to arrive.  Well, that's an average.  Sometimes they'd take a lot longer.  If she wanted Sherlock to live, how could she leave him bleeding out and dying, and taking a chance on the ambulance speed?   She's a nurse.  It looks as if she left him to die.

How could Sherlock know that Mary phoned the ambulance?  Why not Magnusson?  Magnusson would have to let the paramedics in. 

And also, Mary doesn't give any of this story.  Sherlock does.  Actually Sherlock says everything, and Mary just listens.  At no point does she volunteer information, apart from the memory stick.  She hardly even confirms what Sherlock says - only that she is a killer and that that's why John fell for her.  She doesn't have any input in the story about "saving" Sherlock.  Sherlock is providing her alibi, for some reason, and because she doesn't confirm or elaborate, it sounds as if he's making it up and she plays along. 

Sherlock is an actual murderer.

mrshouse wrote:

Snootie, this was not about a job she had to deliver for her government and the sake of her country. And one could consider that bad enough. She shoot for her very own sake, an unarmed men who had just offered to help her sorting her butt out of the trouble. I very much see the point here.

She was finally acting for her own sake instead of the govt or some other entity. She was trying to make sure that Sherlock wouldn't  tell John bc she didn't want to lose him. Someone from a life a violence would probably see that as an acceptable way to deal with a situation like that. I want my 'normal' life, and no one will take it from me.

And in a show that is essentially about murder, it seems like splitting hairs to have a problem with a named character being a criminal more than a nameless character. The show is about crime and violence and John and Sherlock's addictions to such things.  And I think it's assumed that the audience doesn't have a problem with such things either. Or we wouldn't watch it.

This is fanciful tv after all.

Liberty wrote:

I'm going to have difficulty "swallowing it" too, unless they add in some further explanation.  How are we supposed to believe that a shot designed to be safe and not kill him, virtually killed him?   We're all trying to come up with explanations for how that might be, but we need an explanation from the writers: to have Sherlock or Mary or someone explain what went wrong. . 

Maybe we're looking at it from the wrong side. Maybe the whole thing was more about showing how powerful Sherlock's brain is. He's able to overcome his shock and pain and battle back to life. After his Moriarty tells him he's letting John down. When he thinks about letting John down again, he gets up and claws back to life.

Maybe this was all a device to show their connection and devotion to each other above and beyond anyone else. That's what Series three is about too. Sherlock growing into a more adult human being and their renewed and deepened friendship as a result.

Mary's presence in the story could just be a catalyst for their reaffirmed friendship after Sherlock's two-year absence.

silverblaze wrote:

The point is: the shot was meant to be survived, otherwise she'd shot him in the head. That was explained quite clearly. 

There are many more things in Sherlock that wouldn't work in the real world. Within the limited Sherlock world logic, the explanation makes perfect sense. 

I agree with you. It's a violent world in which they live.

Yes, no head shot, and I think that has to be significant because of the head shot at the end of HLV.  But it also has to be weighed up against the other shot that did virtually kill him.    What I feel (no evidence) is that she couldn't quite bring herself to destroy his brain.  However, she still took a shot that was likely to kill him - we know that because his heart stopped.   We could easily have been shown something different - what Sherlock claimed Mary had planned - him being temporarily incapacitated, but never close to death.   A choice was made to have him "die", maybe just for dramatic effect, but it makes the story false. 

I do agree that Mary was cornered and didn't have many options.  But I wonder what would have happened if she'd just waited for John?  Or even just talked to Sherlock for a couple of minutes (she didn't know how long she had - it turned out to be 5 minutes).  She could either have threatened or persuaded.  Sherlock hardly ever tells John anything anyway, and maybe if Mary hadn't shown herself to be so dangerous they could have worked something out.  Or, perhaps she could just have made a run for it before Sherlock saw her face. 

Snootiegirl, I think Sherlock is devoted to John, but the connection is lacking.  Do you mean that they need Mary to bring them together?  I suppose she does, in an odd way. 

Liberty wrote:

. 

Snootiegirl, I think Sherlock is devoted to John, but the connection is lacking.  Do you mean that they need Mary to bring them together?  I suppose she does, in an odd way. 

Yes, I think I do actually. The writers are following the original stories--I will give a nod to that. But after Sherlock faked his death, I think that he needed a serious competitor for John's attention. He always won before, against every girlfriend. But not Mary. She withstood him, and she even liked him.

But she took John away from him too. Or did she? We don't really know why John hadn't seen Sherlock in a month since the wedding. Was it his choice? Was it Mary's? Unclear. Or perhaps Sherlock had stayed away himself?

The competition for John's attention forces Sherlock to work harder to keep him. That's part of his humanizing.


 

Last edited by Snootiegirl99 (September 3, 2014 11:55 pm)

I'm not entrely sure what you mean.
If anything, Sherlock's love for John grows.
Do you think John had been distracted by Mary?