Listen carefully to what Mary says: “people like Magnussen should be killed, that’s why there are people like me”. She’s the type of person who kills people like Magnussen. And what type of person is Magnussen? According to Sherlock he is ‘the Napoleon of blackmail’ who runs the Western world from Appledore, using the “greatest respository of sensitive and dangerous information anywhere in the world”. And as long as Magnussen has that information “the personal freedom of anyone you have ever met is a fantasy”. He’s not a very nice person, in fact, he’s a pretty nasty guy who turns Sherlock’s stomach. When Magnussen flicks John’s face at Appledore he tells him “I know who Mary hurt and killed. I know where to find people who hate her. I know where they live. I know their phone numbers. I could phone them right now and tear your whole life down.” He could set these people on Mary, and they obviously wouldn’t call the authorities to have her arrested and properly tried in a court of law. They would hunt her down and kill her. Probably not very nicely, because they are not-very-nice people. So Mary may be right, people like Magnussen should be killed; that’s why there are people like her.
Who else has killed someone?
and then justified it as the killing of a not-very-nice person who deserved to die?
Remember that when John shot the cabbie Sherlock was voluntarily taking the pill – he wasn’t being coerced. This means that John cannot avail himself of the “defense of other” defense to murder (akin to self-defense except that the homicide is committed to defend the life of another person, not yourself). Sherlock confirms this when he tells John that he wasn’t really going to take the pill (true, John doesn’t believe this, but he does acknowledge that Sherlock was voluntarily risking his life to prove he was clever, because that’s how he gets his ‘kicks’). John actually committed murder that night and then threw the murder weapon in the Thames. Nevertheless, we love it when they giggle at the crime scene and then go off to dinner together.
Also remember that after John shoots the cabbie Sherlock tortures him to force him to reveal Moriarty’s name telling him “you’re dying, but there’s still time to hurt you”.
Finally, remember who actually does kill Magnussen:
So don’t be too judgmental of Mary. Both John and Sherlock have committed murder to save each other. I don’t hear anybody criticizing them for doing this – in fact they are praised for doing so. So why the double-standard when it comes to Mary? Is it because we don’t know her back-story? Sherlock has deduced that Mary was an intelligence agent, but he does not know what country she was serving. By her blonde hair I suppose we are to assume she is Russian, but that could be a red herring. Sherlock trusts her, maybe, because, like him, she is on the ‘side of the angels’, even if she isn’t one herself.
The fandom shouldn’t complain when John Watson’s wife turns out to be an assassin, because if the fandom likes Sherlock Holmes, and the fandom likes John Watson, then it is, indeed, what the fandom likes.
Seriously this is important. What Ive been saying this whole entire time.
Thank you OP. I love Sherlock and John, and I think Mary fits right in with them. And that’s why I love Mary just as much.
mary morstan
You know, if Mary Morstan had been a dude, fandom would have fallen in love with him because he is a reformed assassin starting a new life with the person he loves and has a baby on the way.
Past sins would be forgiven. Current flaws passed over. Who doesn’t want to hear the story of a secret operative who has settled down to a quiet life, but who has to take up arms again when his new life is endangered? Who doesn’t have heartache for him when he makes bad choices so the one he loves won’t find out what he used to be? When he is too afraid to tell the person he just married about his past?
Fandom would be screaming and aching and rolling around on the floor for this character. They would know why he had done all those things, even if it was never said. They would write fanfic about his tortured past. They would…woobify him.
Am I wrong?
No lies detected.
See fandom reference: Sebastian Moran.
underappreciated characters meme > A character you love who is often villainized for their relationships
Mary Morstan – after YEARS of being knocked down for…reasons I am honestly unclear on…I’m hoping her time has come.
(Yes, I’m worried about tonight.)
Sherlock’s deduction of Mary Morstan.
In case, like me, you missed it.
Okay so: linguist (maybe she studied languages), shortsighted, only child, part-time nurse, she’s either a Guardian (newspaper) reader or actually a guardian of someone or something, a Lib Dem, a cat lover, she’s a size 12, has an appendix scar, she bakes her own bread, she’s a romantic…
…and more crucially, she’s disillusioned, she has a secret and she’s a liar. Innnnteresting.
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