Swanpride wrote:

Yea, Sherlock is lazy, despite the fact that his mind is busy all the time. Because Sherlock only trains his mind in what he considers "fun". He doesn't challenge himself.

Very untrue.
Sherlock only engages his mind in problems he finds difficult and intriguing. He refuses to waste it on common, mundane, easy problems.
Which means he does the very opposite - he challenges himself constantly.

Last edited by nakahara (March 31, 2015 6:52 pm)

I wouldn't call Sherlock lazy. He will spend a lot of time and effort, without any rest, for a case. He will do intellectual deductions, practical experiments and legwork/action to get it done. He is far from lazy. However, what he has failed to master, is the grown-up ability to handle boredom and to deal with frustration without having everybody around him suffer for it.

Anyway, that is off topic as this thread is about Mycroft. I think Mycroft internalizes his emotions, whileas Sherlock externalises them. Mycroft might be as frustrated,bored and angry as Sherlock, but he puts on his government smile and deals with it internally. Sherlock deals with it by letting everybody KNOW he is frustrated and bored, so that someone can come along and fix it for him.

Vhanja wrote:

Anyway, that is off topic as this thread is about Mycroft. I think Mycroft internalizes his emotions, whileas Sherlock externalises them. Mycroft might be as frustrated,bored and angry as Sherlock, but he puts on his government smile and deals with it internally. Sherlock deals with it by letting everybody KNOW he is frustrated and bored, so that someone can come along and fix it for him.

Interesting point. Might be true that Sherlock is basically calling for help very clearly, while Mycroft tries to fix problems on his own. Maybe that is because Sherlock always knows that there is at least one person he can turn to for help (Mycroft has a very prominent place in his mind palace as advisor), while Mycroft has to live in a world of goldfish where, when he does not know the answer, no one will.

 

Lola Red wrote:

Interesting point. Might be true that Sherlock is basically calling for help very clearly, while Mycroft tries to fix problems on his own. Maybe that is because Sherlock always knows that there is at least one person he can turn to for help (Mycroft has a very prominent place in his mind palace as advisor), while Mycroft has to live in a world of goldfish where, when he does not know the answer, no one will.
 

And interesting meta I read (which I posted earlier in this thread) made the suggestion that it might come from the sibling relationship. Mycroft was oldest, so his parents could have been more prone to keep him on a schedule. You know, first time parents being a bit more rigid in "doing it right". So he could cry as much as he wanted to, feeding time would wait until 0700 sharp and bedtime was 2000 sharp. Period.

But Sherlock being the youngest would perhaps get extra attention from his older brother Mycroft. Mycroft being very young wouldn't know the consequences of giving wee Sherlock attention when he gaves his litle temper tantrums as a toddler.

So Mycroft learned to internalize his emottions because his tantrums had no success so he just had to deal with it himself. Sherlock learned that tantrums gave him the attention he wanted, so he continued doing it. Since none of the Holmes brothers learned proper socialization when they grew up, they never learned to deal with their emotions like proper adults, and so kept with the coping mechanisms that worked in their childhood.
 

NatureNoHumansNo wrote:

just a little add-on : In the Canon, Mycroft Holmes is described as the smart one, but also as lazy.
"he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right" (the adventure of the greek interpreter)

I think this comes across in the BBC series as how Mycroft despises "legwork".
 

SusiGo wrote:

Please tell me if this is wrong here. I like the analysis very much although the outcome would be sad. But there are others metas on this subject as well and I think they have a point:

http://jenna221b.tumblr.com/post/116417857360/tables-are-turning-mycroft-sherlock-goldfish

This is a very good meta but it upsets me so much!   I know that there has been much speculation about the chance that Mycroft might die.  I also recognize the trope that in the hero's journey the mentor dies. (always knew Dumbledore was a goner)  

Losing Mycroft would have HUGE repercusions to Sherlock, the character and the show.  It could make for some excellent story telling.  But I'm selfish.  I don't want to lose our Mycroft!!

I don't want him to go either.   I feel he has been developed as a character more than in any other adaptation I've seen.   I think I could cope with him dying in a grand finale, but if there continue to be a fifth, sixth, seventh season, then I want him in them. 
 

I think Mycroft has been a sort of higher instance or authority for Sherlock which is quite obvious from the glimpses into his mind palace. His judge-like position in TSOT and the scenes in HLV reveal how Sherlock truly thinks and feels about him and tell us more than his conscious behaviour does. He has been guided by Mycroft for quite a long time but in series 3 we Sherlock freeing himself from Mycroft, maybe most clearly in the Operation scene in TEH. Of course there is a sort of "relapse" at the end of HLV but on the whole he seems to be disengaging from Mycroft's influence, especially where feelings are concerned.   

Why would it be John who dies? IMO the mentor trope also includes the mentor becoming redundant because the "student" has learned everything there is to learn or because the "student" realises that they have to make their own choices from now on and have to free themselves from the mentor. 

The "not caring" may have served Sherlock for quite a long time during his development and rise as a detective (maybe also during his adolescence) but since he has met John he has realised that his personality is not complete without allowing emotions. 

This is true. But we only rarely see John within Sherlock's mind palace while Mycroft is very present. 

And for me the mentor trope applies to the whole not caring/distancing oneself from feelings business which is represented by Mycroft, not by John, and has to be overcome by Sherlock. 

I think it would be illogical if Sherlock was to lose John who helped him to allow feelings and instead to remain with Mycroft who trained him to do the very opposite.