Sherlock the Special Snowflake

[frayadjacent]

I mostly enjoyed Elementary 2x12, but damn I hated when Sherlock said, "I'm not sure I'm one of them" to Moriarty.  I mean, one of the things I enjoy about Elementary is how it takes down this notion of this Special White Man who's different from all the sheeple.  It totally works for me that Moriarty thinks that about the two of them, but I want Sherlock to reject it! 

And even more so, I want the narrative to reject it. 

I just see some conflict brewing between Joan and Sherlock and it is not making me happy.

Aside: I was severely annoyed by how thoughtless and careless Moriarty's "guards" were.  She gets glass? Really?

Comments

[quarter_to_five]

Yes, I never know quite how at face-value to take Sherlock's special-snowflakiness. Are we supposed to feel sad for him in that moment because he is a special snowflake and the only other snowlflake in the world is evil, or feel bad for him because he thinks he's a special snowflake and can't see that the world is full of snowflakes? I just don't know, although I do feel like the show is inviting us to ask the question and isn't taking our sympathy for granted the way it sometimes does, which makes it vastly more interesting to me.

[frayadjacent]

I guess I feel like at one point it seemed like he did know about the other snowflakes, and now he's like, regressing?

[quarter_to_five]

Maybe, dunno. I never entirely bought his shifts one way or another as particularly meaningful. Maybe for him, as a person, but not for the show's commentary (or lack thereof) on the whole special-snowflake concept. Even when he'd take a step in the right direction, it would kind of celebrate him for being the snowflake so special that he can try to stop being it. Or something. Like, even when he's moving closer to other people, he's still doing it almost as a favour to them, a demonstration of how awesome HE is, on a meta level. Here I actually felt a genuine moment of sadness for both him and for Moriarty, for being so alienated, so failing to get it, which is more than the show has ever gotten out of me before.

[king_touchy]

I liked that Sherlock was not sure. To me his doubt is a sign that he knows he's on a journey: a journey to adulthood/personhood/self-discovery/sobriety/what-have-you, that he knew of intellectually (as do we all), but one that he began in earnest with Joan. It's sticking this time. We see it; Moriarty sees it; and Sherlock is coming round to the notion. I wonder how his perception of self has been rattled these past months!

I also wonder if being "one of them" or not -- as he said it in that moment -- is a good thing or bad thing to Sherlock, or is that the big piece of his change. As a viewer, I see him, and have seen him, change into a decent man. (And he wasn't bad in many ways before that; it's nice to have a Sherlock who isn't a complete asshole [looking at you, BBC].)

[frayadjacent]

Yeah, I guess I just thought he already knew the answer? And that it was expressed in his relationships with Joan, Alfredo, Bell, and Gregson? Which he already acknowledged himself in this episode! Which does support the reading that he does indeed view not being "one of them" as a bad thing.

But I still find the notion of the lone genius (especially when it's the protagonist who we're supposed to support or identify with, and especially if it's a white guy) who is outside of everyone else just...aggravating. Maybe I'm projecting some of that onto Sherlock and misreading his words a bit.

Anyway, I do agree that he's a decent guy, and I too am glad to see it. It's a big part of what works so well for me about this show.

[king_touchy]

Which he already acknowledged himself in this episode!

In his admission, Sherlock reminds me of someone I know, a young man who struggled so hard against accepting a difficult truth. I was so frustrated with him, the young man, because the exact realizations he needed to accept came out of his own mouth and he didn't get it, didn't hear himself. That's my own projection onto the show. :-)

Yeah, you're right. So many shows do pander to the genius white dude I just take it for granted; I like how you pointed that out. Elementary is dismantling the mythos. Slowly, perhaps? Too slowly? It is certainly light years ahead of BBC Sherlock!

[frayadjacent]

Oh I agree, which is part of what I love about it.

It's true, when people learn things about themselves or the world, it can be easy to unlearn them too. It can be easy to forget hard life lessons when some new hardship arises. It can be easy to fall back on old habits and ways of thinking.

Clearly there are lots of interpretations of that line!

[lilacsigil]

I thought it was a sign (especially compared to the opening letter/monologue) that Moriarty confuses the crap out of him. Much of the conflict was between Joan and Moriarty - Sherlock was angry and confused and very much thrown off the case except when with Joan.

[lizbee]

Yeah, that's how I read it, too. And also, Sherlock is a character who has trouble coming out of his head sometimes, and so he's prone to overthinking things.

"Am I really a good person, or am I just putting on a show?" is a circle of thinking that I mostly associate with people in their twenties, figuring out their identities as adults. But Sherlock never went through that process as a young man, so he's kind of doing it now. And a lot of that involves going back and forth, and really struggling to consciously articulate things which, to other people, seem quite obvious.

[frayadjacent]

Huh, interesting. I'm still not sure what I make of it, but that does make sense.

[calvinahobbes]

IDK I'm willing to take Sherlock's comment as a fib. He's claimed that he writes Moriarty in order to gain her trust and get as much information from her as possible - I think already then he knew that she hadn't been neutralized yet. Her breaking out is clear proof of that. And he does say to Joan that his relationships are meaningful to him, and he puts his wish to change Moriarty in the past tense WHILE he talks about her obsession with their similarities. tl;dr I think he says what he says to her because he wants her to THINK they are still similar and that Moriarty still has some hope of influencing him. She quirks such a delighted smile when he says it. IDK I think it's complicated, and I think they're both tangled up in this delightful mess of lies and truths-used-as-leverage *hands*

[frayadjacent]

Huh, that makes a lot of sense! It would be pretty clever of him.