BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Mary

cmb711 · October 15, 2016 1:14 pm

besleybean wrote:
I think if she'd meant to kill him, she'd have a put a bullet through his brain.

Yes, exactly, and she's counting on his realizing that, and at least being curious enough to keep quiet til he can hear her out. She's not sure about this, which is why she starts their encounter with, "What do you want, Sherlock?" and brings her gun, ready to shoot him again if necessary. This is where I see Mary at her coldest and most dangerous, and she's scary. She's also on the edge of despair, and I don't quite believe her. While she says to Sherlock, "Please. Understand. There is nothing in this world I would not do to stop that happening," clearly there is, because she didn't kill him in the first place, which would have been by far the easiest way to keep her secret.

cmb711 · October 15, 2016 1:18 pm

Sorry. I'll shut up now. You have all been talking about this for years, and I'm new, so I'm sure I am rehashing old ground. Still can't wait for Season Four.

SusiGo · October 15, 2016 1:20 pm

Same here. Let it come! We have been stuck in this hell for nearly three years.

besleybean · October 15, 2016 1:20 pm

It's difficult enough when you wander late into a thread, never mind when you join the fandom in the middle(maybe) of a show's run!
Who has the time to read the multiple pages? Anyway, points often do get lost or forgotten.
So don't worry about it, post away!

Actually Susi, it's only really a year...the special was a full episode in its own right and I think it moved things on.

Last edited by besleybean (October 15, 2016 1:22 pm)

cmb711 · October 15, 2016 1:24 pm

Yeah, sorry, I didn't wade through all 241 pages before jumping in. That's probably enough, though.

SusiGo · October 15, 2016 1:27 pm

besleybean wrote:
It's difficult enough when you wander late into a thread, never mind when you join the fandom in the middle(maybe) of a show's run!
Who has the time to read the multiple pages? Anyway, points often do get lost or forgotten.
So don't worry about it, post away!

Actually Susi, it's only really a year...the special was a full episode in its own right and I think it moved things on.

Well, yes and no. We did not really move on, did we? Or just about five minutes with nothing really solved and many new questions.

Last edited by SusiGo (October 15, 2016 1:28 pm)

besleybean · October 15, 2016 1:31 pm

But as you say, new possibilities!

kgreen20 · October 16, 2016 2:02 am

besleybean wrote:
Thank you so much for this last post, I agree....well, except I don't think Mary will stay around.

Neither do I, since it's not canon. And neither will the baby, for the same reason.

kgreen20 · October 16, 2016 2:03 am

besleybean wrote:
I think if she'd meant to kill him, she'd have a put a bullet through his brain.

Or his heart.

kgreen20 · October 16, 2016 2:05 am

SusiGo wrote:
Indeed. We are starved for new developments.

No kidding!

Schmiezi · October 16, 2016 8:22 am

kgreen20 wrote:
besleybean wrote:
I think if she'd meant to kill him, she'd have a put a bullet through his brain.
Or his heart.

Just one thought. Imagine the writers WANTED her to kill him but have him survive. (Just imagine if you don't believe in it.)

How could they have shown it? A bullet through the head or rhe heart would have been impossible because Sherlock could not survive.

So how else would it have been possible?

Last edited by Schmiezi (October 16, 2016 8:24 am)

Liberty · October 16, 2016 8:52 am

I think that if they'd missed out Sherlock's deduction it would have worked, but also if Sherlock had shot Magnussen in the chest instead of the head.

kgreen20 · October 16, 2016 8:06 pm

In which case,they would have had to portray her as a lousy shot, since from only a short distance from Sherlock, she tried to aim for a shot that would kill him and failed. But they didn't; they portrayed her as an excellent shot, as her subsequent demonstration with the coin showed. Therefore, there is no way that she was aiming for a shot that would have ended his life. She would have most certainly have succeeded at it had she tried.

Last edited by kgreen20 (October 16, 2016 8:08 pm)

besleybean · October 16, 2016 8:07 pm

This is how it seems to me.

SusiGo · October 16, 2016 8:18 pm

kgreen20 wrote:
In which case,they would have had to portray her as a lousy shot, since from only a short distance from Sherlock, she tried to aim for a shot that would kill him and failed. But they didn't; they portrayed her as an excellent shot, as her subsequent demonstration with the coin showed. Therefore, there is no way that she was aiming for a shot that would have ended his life. She would have most certainly have succeeded at it had she tried.

I have questions: Why did she shoot him at all? She could have knocked him out with the gun. Worked for Magnussen, would have worked for Sherlock. If she was such a good shot, she would have known how dangerous a place it was to shoot him. Again, why did she shoot at all? She was clearly neither nervous nor in panic.

Liberty · October 16, 2016 8:24 pm

Well, if we didn't have Sherlock's deduction we wouldn't know she was a good shot (or that she was an assassin).

Anyway, the coin is hit slightly off-centre, and actually either way, whether Mary intended to kill or not, she's slightly off the mark. She didn't manage to kill him (if she was trying to), and yet it was very unlikely that he would have survived that shot (if she wanted him to). I understand that this was for dramatic effect, that we (and Sherlock) are supposed to think she was trying to kill him until the reveal of Sherlock's deduction. This wouldn't have been quite so effective if we'd seen him less gravely wounded (and it wouldn't have had the same emotional impact).

tonnaree · October 16, 2016 11:18 pm

Lately I feel that I don't care why she shot Sherlock. No matter why, she did shoot him and his heart did stop.
I will never get over that.

RavenMorganLeigh · October 17, 2016 3:45 am

tonnaree wrote:
Lately I feel that I don't care why she shot Sherlock. No matter why, she did shoot him and his heart did stop.
I will never get over that.

Right there with you.

mrshouse · October 17, 2016 4:40 am

tonnaree wrote:
Lately I feel that I don't care why she shot Sherlock. No matter why, she did shoot him and his heart did stop.
I will never get over that.

Yes, thank you, tonnaree. This. And tbh, how she was shown in TAB I also don't feel represented by her character in a positive way. As a woman.

besleybean · October 17, 2016 5:33 am

Well that's the way the team chose to go and I can live with it.