Vhanja wrote:

I feel the wording in this thread is a bit too strong for what we are seeing in the show. I don't think neither "Stockholm syndrome", "abuser" nor "hostage" are terms that fit these things in the show. These are strong words with quite dramatic and horrible connotations that I don't think should be used lightly.

Well, many abusers merely abuse their victims with words, by belittling and harassing them, but without actually touching them... that still does not absolve them of being called abusers.
Mary actually shot Sherlock, gravely injuring him and sending him into clinical death for a while. This, in my eyes, is the highest form of abuse and therefore I thought the term is quite fitting here.
But of course, your milleage may wary.

And I think, it was obvious from my previous post (and the Raven´s original post) that we use the term "hostage" metaphorically, to describe Sherlock´s hopeless situation from which there is no way out.
We really didn´t mean Mary has him tied up in a cellar, or anything like that. 

 

I think that if the situation just after the shooting had continued, with Mary having threatened Sherlock to keep quiet on fear of death, then that would have fitted the hostage/abuse scenario more.  But after that, the threat is gone, and I think Sherlock does not feel controlled by Mary.  (In fact, at that point she's the one who is relying on him to sort out Magnussen, and Sherlock is the one holding her information and with power over her). 

Last edited by Liberty (May 12, 2016 4:32 pm)

(not a useful comment, but there you go : I like the subject discussed here, very much so. And I like /how/ it is developed, I'm having great pleasure in reading you all)