The death of meta
I would have to say that the Sherlock fandom is more than half of why I fell in love with this show. The clever, well-informed critiques that people had of this show blew me away. People well versed in story-telling, film making, and queer history came forward and wrote beautiful, stunning things about BBC Sherlock, its characters, its gorgeous lush images, and its over-arching storylines running through the text and subtext. People brought both serious analyses, and funny, cracky ideas about the show and where things were headed to the table to enjoy and build on. I reveled in the fertile ground of the Sherlock fandom’s intellect and imagination. Post s3 was a heady time in the fandom.
And then series 4 happened.
I know many have continued to write well-thought meta pieces on s4, on symbolism, and explanations for time lines, and possible dream sequences. I applaud those who still want to play that game. I had to let it go.
At the end of s3, Mary had been set up to be an ultimate baddie, someone in cahoots with Moriarty orchestrating John and Sherlock’s downfall. Then suddenly with the opening s4, the trio are back together solving crimes with the baby in some goofy parody of a sitcom. Mary and Sherlock trade jibes while putting John down, and oh right, they got a dog to walk around and … . clue for looks? I’m not quite sure.
The series delved more and more into the absurd as it went along. There were no consequences for anything, red herrings, and dropped set-ups flew in thick and fast as hail on a cold spring morning. What was in that letter John gave to Sherlock? Why did we see multiple conflicting scenes of John checking his texts in bed? What was the whole point of that memory-wiping drug they made so much of? Since the real Faith never came to speak to Sherlock, did it really even happen? What did really happen? Then the story took a huge jump into an alternate reality where Sherlock’s mad sister has X-men powers of brain-washing, and can pop in and out of prison and set-up whatever outlandish scenarios suit her fancy. Oh, and John left his feet in the well to be rescued. I just.
Nothing that came before series 4 seemed to have any bearing on what we saw in January. It’s as if we started watching a completely different show that just happened to have the same actors we knew playing in it. No longer did a cohesive narrative seem to run through the show. Anything we knew of the characters and their history and personalities was erased and rewritten with whatever seemed wacky and fun for the moment. I do applaud those who want to continue the game of finding connection and meaning in the Sherlock show, but I had to put all that down and walk away. Within fandom, in the art, and fanfic, and clever writing about this show, I can find depth of feeling, integrity, interest in character study, and a rich story-telling exploration of “what might have happened next.” When I look at what the showrunners gave us for s4? All I can say is nothing means anything anymore. Flash, splash and dash are simply great barrels of fun … and boop, it’s all fine.