Mycroft is a reptile. His brother

Several friends immediately said that they wouldn’t mind reading about Mycroft, and I really want to write about him myself. But this will not be such a harmonious analysis, I just... I want to write about it :)

So, Mycroft Holmes, the eldest son of the family.

1. The public image (public image)
The concept of "image" is often opposed to true nature, but in the case of Mycroft Holmes, the image does not lie.
A respected man who has achieved career heights and occupies a "modest position in the British government", allowing him, however, to be responsible for such operations and have access to such information that Sherlock even says that he "is the British government." Does anyone on the outside know about him? No, of course, this is an eminence grise.
We can safely say that his distinctive features are willpower (just remember what he was like as a teenager and what figure he has now :)), decency and devotion to his country, sober prudence and a cold mind. He is ambitious, but rightfully so: even Ever recognizes his level of intelligence, and he alone is able to consistently resist her ability to “reprogram” people.
He devoted his entire life to service. He is lonely, even alone at Christmas, but this is his conscious choice. "I live in a world of aquarium fish."
In episode 3 of season 4 and at the beginning of episode 1 of season 3, we can appreciate his courage.
He is cold-blooded, like a surgeon who, without flinching, will remove the damaged organ for the sake of the viability of the whole organism. Even if this “organ” is himself (ready to sacrifice himself so that the plane does not fall on the city).
It is no coincidence that Irene, referring to the witty Jim, calls Mycroft Iceman, man made of ice(we translated “snowman”). This is the first approach to the character of Mycroft Holmes.

2. The second approximation, or “The worst secret”
C.O. Magnussen, who knows the secrets of everyone and everything, was not difficult to get to the bottom of the open secret, to the painful point of Mycroft - his younger brother.
When I think about this, the hero of another great Briton comes to mind, the dragon Smaug, in whose impenetrable armor there was one small hole - just opposite the heart.
A dragon is also a reptile, isn't it? ;)
For Mycroft, Sherlock is an eternal cause for anxiety and only sometimes an assistant in business. You can’t rely on him because his priorities are far from adults (see, for example, “The Scandal in Belgravia”, the disgrace at Buckingham Palace and the failure of the airplane operation, both on the conscience of the youngest).

In the picture: “Don’t force me to order you around.”

3. Mycroft - Sherlock. Deus ex machinae ("god from the machine")
For the sake of Sherlock, Mycroft is ready to sacrifice his own principles and his own comfort, learn a new language and rush into the thick of it (the beginning of “The Empty Hearse”). He will be there when Sherlock needs support... if only he is allowed (the morgue scene in A Scandal in Belgravia).
For Sherlock, Mycroft is definitely parental figure. Its main functions are control and protection. The first, of course, infuriates Sherlock, but he very willingly uses the second. He's naughty - and calls his brother, who will fly in like a magician in a blue helicopter, invariably "screw up" and eliminate the consequences, even if the "mischief" means the murder of a very influential person. Yes, I believe it was Mycroft who put James Moriarty on screen all over the country in His Last Vow. He, and only he, had the opportunity and the motive. And he was not at all surprised when Jim appeared to the British people, he only said to Sherlock in a fatherly manner: “I hope you learned your lesson.”

I was touched by the episode when Sherlock, out of habit, turns to Mycroft at a time when he suddenly needed help of a different kind - moral support, during the wedding of John and Mary. Well, he was out of luck here. Mycroft is not on this part.

The picture shows the quote “I will always be with you” (I will always support you, I will save you).
In "The Ugly Bride" we are shown a flashback, a teenage Sherlock in a drug den and a grief-stricken Mycroft, who promises that he will always be there, will always come to the rescue. Not for the first or last time, I wonder where the parents are at this time... It seems that Mycroft voluntarily takes on the role of a father for this teenager - complex, like any gifted child, and even with childhood trauma . Can he do it? Of course, Mycroft, who is only seven years older than his brother, makes mistakes. In the end, we are all just people, as Sherlock himself admits (but only in episode 2 of season 4).

(picture: Mycroft to John: "Tell him I'm sorry. Please").

Mycroft teaches Sherlock the wisdom he has learned: "All lives end. All hearts break. Caring is not an advantage." He teaches him not to trust people, not to fall in love, not to get carried away. He probably teaches like a man, harshly.
Surely at one time there was no attempt to assert oneself in relations with the youngest (“Don’t be smart, Sherlock, I’m the smart one here”).

He often reminds of the dangers of openness, for example, with tales of the East Wind or the nickname "Redbird" - Sherlock perceives these pokes as cruelty. In fact, this is how the elder brother shows his concern. We do not know at what cost Mycroft acquired such harsh wisdom, and we can only guess how painful his own experiences were that led him to this philosophy of life. As for the keywords “East Wind” and “Redbird”, in episode 3 of season 4, Mycroft finally gets the opportunity to justify himself: “I didn’t offend you! I monitored your condition using stimulus words.” Yes, sure. He kept his hand on the pulse to, if possible, prevent another tailspin from Sherlock. But where were the parents looking...

4. Sherlock to Mycroft. Godlessness
We can assume that Sherlock admires his older brother, but his protest is stronger.
He habitually blames his misdeeds on Mycroft (when they smoke in episode 3, season 3).
Purely physically, it can pin him to the wall and cause pain (the beginning of the same series).
It is easy to believe that Mycroft, as a politician, sacrifices people as pawns (the situation around the plane in "A Scandal in Belgravia"), and throws accusations in his face.
With his own hands he gives Moriarty a flash drive with secret plans.
He believes (sincerely or not?) that Mycroft is deliberately waiting longer while Sherlock is being beaten by the evil Serbs (beginning of episode 1 of season 3).
Without hesitation, he frames his brother - perhaps to court martial, by stealing his secret laptop (episode 3, season 3).
We see that in the Halls of the Mind ("His Last Vow" and "The Sign of Three") Mycroft personifies the Master, the pure mind. I wanted to write “devoid of emotions,” but this is not so: in Sherlock’s mind, Mycroft is invariably strict and ready to be sarcastic even when the youngest’s heart is about to stop. At the same time, in his opinion, Mycroft is not on the list of those who will grieve after Sherlock’s death (on the list, Jim lists: Mrs. Hudson, mom and dad, “That Woman” and John, but not his own brother, but in fact in fact, these are the thoughts of Sherlock himself). In Sherlock's opinion, Mycroft wouldn't care.
The beginning of Episode 3 of Season 4 shows especially clearly how easy it is for Sherlock to trample on Mycroft's feelings. The open, enthusiastic, unprotected “Ice Man” watches his favorite movie, which suddenly gives way to a family chronicle. All the emotions that he is ready to deny in public are on his face at these moments, especially betrayed by his smile, which appears when he sees little Sherlock hugging his older brother. This is the first time the viewer sees Mycroft like this. A moment later, he is ready to defend himself against his worst nightmares and draws his sword, like an ancient knight... how does he know that the “sponsor” of the nightmare is his beloved brother.
I'm disheartened, but I really can't remember a time when Sherlock showed any kind of NORMAL attitude towards Mycroft.
Mycroft was used to it. In episode 1 of season 1, he tells John that Sherlock would call him his worst enemy.
What struck me most, just to the core: Mycroft actually believes that his own brother is capable of killing him. He is ready to face this with his characteristic courage and composure and allows himself the only thing: “Farewell, my brother” (translated by Channel 1 as “Farewell, my little brother,” but in fact he used them with Sherlock’s signature brother mine).
He has already forgiven him even for this.

And here we come to a conclusion that may seem completely unexpected: Mycroft Holmes is the embodiment of love, and unconditional love, the way that father and mother ideally love their children.

5. The symbol of love is the heart.
But Sherlock doesn't believe it. In "The Ugly Bride", when John mentions that such obesity is bad for the heart, Sherlock replies: "There's a vacuum where that organ should be." (Yes, in the pool he said the same thing to himself, it’s a family joke between them. But in the case of Mycroft, he says exactly what he means.)
It's interesting how the theme of heart develops in the melody of the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft.
In episode 1 of season 3, the brothers play as if they were playing chess, but when Mycroft makes a mistake, it is clear that the game is completely different - like an electronic doctor. Mycroft dropped his heart, and Sherlock sarcastically remarks: "You can't mend a broken heart, so they say."
The second time the topic of the heart comes up is in the brothers' conversation in front of their parents' house, just before Mycroft falls asleep from the potion (Episode 3, Season 3). "Your death would break my heart." Mycroft says this with his back turned to Sherlock, for him this is a very strong self-exposure. And Sherlock doesn’t “let us down”, he coughed from surprise and only answers: “And what do you think I should say to that?”
Finally, at the peak, when Mycroft believes that Sherlock is about to kill him in order to continue the GAME, he asks: “Not in your face, please, I promised my brains to the Royal Society. I believe that somewhere in my chest there is a heart. And although it’s not so big that you can get in right away, why not try.”
Not only is Mycroft not offended at Sherlock in advance for the fact that he is about to (allegedly) shoot him, he also tries to make his decision easier by putting himself in the worst possible light: he humiliates John and admits his terrible mistake that it was he who led to Ever Moriarty.
Luckily, Sherlock sees Mycroft's motives and even says that these noble motives make him harder to shoot. (At least thanks for that.)

6.What could have been
"My brother has the brain of a philosopher or scientist, but he chose to become a private detective. What does this tell us about him? heart?" ("I don't know," John replies.) "And I don't know. But first he wanted to become a pirate."
Is a pirate the embodiment of freedom and romance? I believe it should be interpreted that way.
Who did Mycroft Holmes want to become? An eminence grise? We don't know this. It’s unlikely that a lonely overweight teenager dreamed that he would be carrying a completely unmanageable burden of family secrets, responsibility for his brother and sister (as well as already aged parents) in addition to responsibility for the safety of his entire homeland...
In episode 3 of season 4, we find out that at school he played in the theater, and successfully. (Don't be confused by the fact that it was a female role - Lady Bracknell - Benedict Cumberbatch's first success was the role of Titania in Shakespeare's play. But what do you do if you study at a prestigious school, they are only for boys.) In Sherrinford he too showed acting talent when he tried to get Sherlock to shoot.
We see that Mycroft still enjoys disguises; he got a kick out of pretending to be an old fisherman. It’s not often that he manages to “break away” like this, to free himself from a three-piece suit and a noose tie.
What could he have been like if not for Ever, if not for Sherlock, if not for such upbringing of his parents? If it weren’t for your own nature - the desire to take on all responsibility, even if it comes with insults, and the payback will be loneliness?
In this dialogue, when Mycroft suddenly, out of the blue, tells John about Sherlock’s childhood dreams, he also shares responsibility with him - not full, of course, but for one relatively small aspect. Tell Sherlock that Irene died (which he believes), or hide it. It's good that this moment is in the series. He proves that Mycroft is not playing at being a “god” who delights in deciding the fates of other mere mortals. It's already too hard for him. By the way, on the plane he also delegates some of the responsibility to John.

I’m sure that Sherlock was the favorite in his parents’ family, and Mycroft (“you’re already big”) was responsible for everything. Neither his brother nor his parents ever thought to thank him for anything, and he did not expect this and did not choose such a life for the sake of “thank you.”
Only at the very end does Sherlock whisper in Mycroft’s justification: He did his best (“He tried his best”). Maybe he realized this only now. But mom presses: Then he "s very limited," and, I’m afraid, Sherlock’s words of support fly past the ears of the destroyed Mycroft.

Sherlock tells Lestrade that Mycroft is not as strong as he would like to appear. Another new thought for Sherlock.
And the very fact that Mycroft, it turns out, is not eternal, probably for the first time seriously occurs to him (remember the background of this stupid game in the “halls” (in “The Ugly Bride”), where the Holmeses enthusiastically place bets on when Mycroft will finally will die).
In general, there is hope that the brothers will become at least a little closer after everything. They work well as a team, and Sherlock, as we were promised and shown, has truly matured and become wiser.

What can be concluded here? Mycroft is a multi-layered character, beautifully written and delightfully acted. It is not surprising that this is the image that one of the two showrunners and scriptwriters, Mark Gatiss, chose for himself. What actor would refuse this! And it's good that we had episode 3 of season 4, which showed Mycroft for who he is!
Previously, we only guessed, but now we know exactly what is hidden in his umbrella and what is in his heart :)

Steam smokes over the cups of tea, coals are falling in the fireplace, and Sherlock Holmes, lighting his pipe, recalls the incident when he had to confront Mycroft. The complicated case of an explosion in parliament almost cost the brothers their friendship: they fought against each other, playing the roles of defender and prosecutor. But everything ended well, so now the investigation diary is available to everyone who wants to meet in a duel or dreams of a career as a detective, following the ingenious plots of detective stories with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Young players will appreciate the illustrations and descriptions of the characters, and parents will be pleased with their children's improved math skills.

The first day

Permanent characters take their places on the lined pages: Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade. They always remain in the game, following the ups and downs of events and helping as best they can. On the very first day, one of the new characters appears from the deck: the same Irene Adler, who allows you to steal someone else’s evidence, the street kid Wiggins with his pockets full of tokens, or a dog named Toby, barking at hiding places. The villains don't sleep either! The sinister shadow of Moriarty, a criminal mastermind, stands behind Moran, taking away evidence or tokens from the detectives.

Below the field there are four clues laid out in a row, with a stack of cards next to it. Players assign roles, take three markers and five tokens, and the fight begins. So Mycroft finds a shoe print and, guided by a vague hunch, goes to the character of the first day. Sherlock, afraid of missing a clue, follows him. Days fly by, the evidence found accumulates, and the fate of the unfortunate prisoner depends only on the strategically correct decisions of the players. Excitement prompts you to look for the same evidence in order to accumulate points; witnesses constantly hide from the city, tired of interrogations. The seventh day will decide everything: it will give victory to Mycroft and convict the accused, or once again praise Sherlock’s intelligence and acquit the prisoner.

Includes:

• Diary,
• 6 markers,
• 15 character cards,
• 52 evidence cards,
• 24 tokens,
• Rules of the game.

Mycroft the otter met Gregory the wolf cub when he himself was still an unintelligent puppy. He had never in his life seen animals larger than his mom and dad, so he was scared when Gregory jumped out of the bushes to meet him with a cheerful yelp. It was too late to run, so Mycroft stood up to his full height, fluffed himself up to appear larger, and prepared to defend himself.
- Who are you?! – he squeaked, although his heart skipped a beat with fear.
- No, who are you?! – the wolf cub answered, and the moving black nose suddenly appeared so close to the small otter that Mycroft closed his eyes in horror.
- I am an otter! - he squeaked and thought that, of course, he was about to be swallowed. The wolf cub snorted, fanning him with hot breath, and then pushed him with his nose and knocked the baby onto his back.
- It’s not true, I know everything about otters, my mother told me about it. They are long, wet and slippery. And you are dry and somehow... round.
- I'm not fat! - Mycroft was indignant, floundering upward with his paws: Gregory pressed him to the ground and did not let him get up. – I just haven’t grown up yet! And to be wet, you have to go from the river, not towards it! You stupid thug!
The little wolf shook his big forehead, flapping his ears funny, and jumped up joyfully:
-Are you going to the river? Shall we go together?
The otter Mycroft stood up with dignity, sat down in a column and primly smoothed his fur, and only then answered:
- Let's go to. But don’t you dare call me fat again, or I won’t be friends with you!
The wolf cub barked affirmatively, ran a little forward towards the river, stopped and wagged his tail. The otter squeaked, sank down on all four legs and trotted after him, waddling funny. Both animals were still very small and, of course, had already forgotten when they managed to become friends.

The wolf cub Gregory and the otter Mycroft became inseparable friends. All summer they played together, either exploring the forest or splashing around in the river. Mycroft taught the wolf cub to ride on his belly down a slippery clay slide - however, Gregory almost always rolled head over heels down the slope, and then, smeared to his ears, he was scolded by his strict mother wolf. And Gregory taught the otter to look for bird nests and distracted the adult birds while Mycroft rolled the eggs he had caught aside. After a successful hunt, Mycroft came home with a tightly stuffed belly, and now his mother scolded him, promising to put him on a strict diet.
Trouble struck closer to autumn. Mycroft's younger brother, late Sherlock, came too close to the osprey's nest, and the predator immediately attacked him. The otter squealed in fear and fell upside down with its paws - that was the only reason the huge bird missed. Mycroft rushed to the rescue with all his might. Of course, he knew: the osprey would peck him too, because he was not yet as strong and dexterous as mom or dad! – but still covered his little brother with his body and cowered, expecting sharp claws like knives to pierce his back. And then the wolf cub Gregory suddenly jumped out of the reeds and blocked the bird’s path, growling and snapping his teeth. The osprey flew into the air with an angry scream. The wolf cub had already become an almost adult wolf; such prey was beyond the predator’s strength.
It was then that Mycroft first noticed how different he and Gregory had become, and it saddened him greatly.

Two more years passed - and friends began to meet less often. The wolf cub became quite an adult and began to be interested in wolves. Otter Mycroft suffered in silence in his absence and felt unnecessary, but did not want to admit his experiences. Most of all, he was upset because he remained small... That is, he was a completely normal adult otter, and more and more often they said about him “mature” and “grand.” But, of course, he was far from the size of a wolf.
One day, Gregory was so carried away by playing with a young wolf that he lost track of time and remembered his friend only two weeks later. Of course, he immediately rushed to the lake. And on the shore I witnessed a very strange picture. Mycroft the otter sat sullenly over a pile of fish bones and looked at his noticeably rounded belly. To put it bluntly, his belly was like that of a pregnant female. His brother Sherlock was jumping around his brother and squealing:
- I told you! You won’t grow anywhere else, and there was no point in eating so much!
Noticing Gregory, Mycroft squealed loudly and completely undignifiedly in despair and rushed towards the water, hastening to hide from his friend. But his legs turned out to be too short for such a fat man, he tripped and fell from the shore, raising a cloud of splashes. Sherlock whistled after him maliciously.
- Mycroft! Where are you going?! Come back! – Gregory the wolf barked, running up to the water. Mycroft the otter surfaced, but remained sitting in the shallow water with only his head sticking out.
“Get out,” the wolf asked.
“I won’t get out,” Mycroft the otter ruffled his lips. – And don’t look at me, I’m fat, small and ugly. Go have fun with your wolves, and leave me alone!
Sherlock whistled contemptuously and urged him to go somewhere about his business. Gregory sat down on the shore and stuck out his tongue, looking slyly at the frowning Mycroft.
“Get out,” he repeated. - Well, please, Mycroft, my love.
The otter sat up in surprise, leaning out of the water. Then he caught himself and covered his belly with his paws.
“If you had a loved one, you wouldn’t be running all over the forest looking for wolves!” – he was indignant. And he immediately covered his mouth with his paws, realizing that he had misspoken. He didn’t want Gregory to know that he... - here Mycroft lost his thoughts with chagrin. How could he let it slip! The wolf will simply laugh at him: some fat otter demands his attention! Nonsense.
“Nooo,” said the wolf, continuing to smile from ear to ear. - Then you would be the only one, and so - the beloved. Well, Mycroft, my round sweetheart, come to the shore, please.
Mycroft the otter squealed angrily, jumped out of the water and rushed towards his friend, trying to bite him.
- Don't you dare mock me! – he panted, getting tired very quickly. Gregory took advantage of this moment to pin him to the ground, unceremoniously turn him upside down with his paws and put his muzzle on his stomach.
“My stupid little brat,” he cooed, breathing warmly on the wet fur. - And very, very beloved. Well, what have you gotten into your head? I really like you, and I won’t exchange you for any female. I just knew that you weren’t interested in this yet - but if you’re jealous of me, I’d better endure it a little longer. Being upset and eating so much is definitely not good for you, even though you are very soft now.
“Let me go now,” Mycroft muttered, completely exhausted. In fact, of course, he did not want his friend to let him go; lying under him felt so warm, pleasant and right. AND…
Mycroft the otter trembled with his paws and fidgeted, again trying unsuccessfully to wriggle free.
“Gregory,” he whined uncertainly, “I don’t understand.” Something seems wrong with me...
The wolf raised his head, smiled broadly and unceremoniously looked between his friend’s paws.
“Oh, my dear Mycroft, I know absolutely exactly what’s wrong with you,” he grumbled with impossibility of satisfaction. “You just finally grew up.”
Mycroft sighed with relief and spread his paws, thinking: “Maybe everything will get better now.” He couldn't even imagine how right he was.

The large-scale surge in audience interest in the figure of Sherlock Holmes and in Sherlockian characters, such as Dr. House from the series of the same name, is an interesting sign of the current era. What is this interest based on, why has Sherlock, apparently, become a “hero of our time”? To try to answer this question, you first need to understand what this kind of hero is - what are its origins, evolution, the cultural context that formed it; how this image has developed in modern serial culture and how numerous Sherlockian narratives are structured.

Why is Dr. House limping? Why doesn't Mr. Spock have a sense of humor? Was there Moriarty? Why do you need a Reichenbach? Who are Papa and Mama Holmes? What do the Irish Setter and the Hound of the Baskervilles have in common? Are Holmes and Watson really inseparable? What is audience response, and how does it relate to the fan fiction phenomenon? Why do Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss troll viewers so mercilessly in The Ugly Bride?

All this and much more are the “building blocks” of a project dedicated to the study of modern Sherlockiana. The method of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis in its clinical perspective is proposed as the main tool and optics of the study. The problems of the modern subject, as it is understood in the clinic of psychoanalysis, are illustrated with the help of Sherlockian material as the most relevant form of “questioning about one’s desire”, one’s subjectivity.

The text presented to the attention of readers is a chapter of a future book, a kind of psychoanalytic educational program, or a short encyclopedia of psychoanalysis in “entertaining pictures.” The material in the chapter is the current latest episode of “Sherlock” (“The Ugly Bride” in Russian box office). The episode represents a dream - therefore, it is advisable to study it using the Freudian method of dream interpretation. Analyzing the dream, revealing its logic within the architectonics of the entire series, we touch upon the key concepts of psychoanalysis, accompanying them, for better understanding, not only with examples from serial culture, but also literature and mythology.

The book fits into a venerable research tradition, widely represented in the West, - the study of mass culture from the perspective of psychoanalysis (for example, over the past few years in the largest French academic publishing house PUF , Presses Universitaires de France , no less than 15 works were published, written by French psychoanalysts of the Lacanian movement and dedicated to the series); and, of course, we need not recall the influence of such a figure as Slavoj Zizek, the popularizer of Lacanian psychoanalysis, who himself has long acquired the status of a cultural phenomenon.

In the summer of 1895, Sigmund Freud had a dream that would go down in the history of psychoanalysis as the “dream of Irma” and lay the foundation for his fundamental work “The Interpretation of Dreams.” In 1900, he wrote to his then closest friend, Wilhelm Fliess: “Someday a marble plaque will be hung on this house in Bellevue, reading: “Here on the night of July 24, 1895, the secret of dreams was revealed to Dr. Sigmund Freud.”

Freud dreamed of looking into the throat of his patient (here named Irma) and seeing there a large white spot and a strange gray growth. Analyzing his dream in detail, he comes to the conclusion that several other females were “mixed” in the image of Irma: Irma’s friend, a certain “young beautiful governess,” Freud’s former patient, his wife and even his little daughter. Discussing the so-called dream work, which is always nothing more than a rebus, hieroglyphs that must be deciphered, Freud describes its various mechanisms, such as condensation (superposition of several images in one) and displacement (emphasis on individual elements). Things, words, fragments of words can condense and shift, forming “comic and bizarre combinations.”

French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan devotes several lectures of his Second Seminar to the “dream of Irma.” Continuing to analyze Freud’s dream, he emphasizes: “...behind Irma are both his [Freud’s] own wife, who was Irma’s close friend, and another young seductive woman in his circle, as a patient, compared to Irma, much more interesting.” By forcing the patient to open her mouth and looking into her throat, Freud “sees in the depths of his disgusting spectacle<…>. Here the most terrible thing is revealed to us - the flesh, which is always hidden from view, the basis of things, the underside of the face<…>the last basis of every mystery, suffering, formless flesh, the very form of which evokes unaccountable fear.” And finally, Lacan speaks even more decisively about this dream image: “truly the head of Medusa,<…>the depths of this throat, whose complex, indescribable shape makes it the abyss of a female organ,<…>this source of all life, and the eruption of the mouth that swallows all living things, and the image of death, where everything finds its end.” In a word, this dream is directly related to Freud’s famous question, to which he was never able, by his own admission, to find an answer: “What does a woman want?” And more broadly - what is a woman anyway?

“Here, on the night of July 24, 1895, the secret of dreams was revealed to Dr. Sigmund Freud.” In 1963, a sign with this inscription was actually installed by the Austrian Sigmund Freud Society on the site of a demolished mansion in Bellevue (Grinzing, a suburb of Vienna).

Eternal 1895

In the first episode of the second season of the British TV series "Sherlock" (BBC television, 2010 -) entitled "A Scandal in Belgravia", a blog run by John Watson jams the visitor counter: it freezes at 1895. This attracts the attention of Sherlock, who assumes that Watson's blog was hacked by Irene Adler (the episode is dedicated to her) and that 1895 is the password for her phone, taken from her by Sherlock. Sherlock is wrong; but in the universe of the show's creators and writers, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, such details are rarely coincidental - as is well known to fans of the series, who immediately pondered the meaning of the number 1895 and concluded that it was nothing more than a year.

John (Martin Freeman) and Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch). Still from the series “A Scandal in Belgravia”, 2012.

The lines “Here, though the world explode, these two survive, // And it is always eighteen ninety -five” ends the sonnet “221b” (or “Always 1895”, “Eternal 1895”) written in 1942 by Vincent Starrett , American writer and journalist, author of Holmesian pastiches and founder of the Chicago chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars club: the chapter was called The Hounds of the Baskerville.

Arthur Conan Doyle in The Empty House dates the "resurrection" of Sherlock Holmes very precisely - "in the spring of 1894." 1895 marks the very beginning of Holmes’ “new” life - his posthumous and at the same time immortality. Vincent Starrett's The Eternal 1895 chronicled Holmes's final transformation into a timeless superhero.

And indeed, the detail turned out to be not accidental: the events in the New Year's - "Victorian" - special edition of "Sherlock" 2016 are dated to 1895. The title of the episode, "The Abominable Bride" ("Terrible Bride"), refers to the novella "The Rite of the House of Musgrave" , where Holmes first introduces Watson to old cases that he dealt with before meeting his Boswell. From the “big tin box” he takes out stacks of papers - reports on his investigations.

In addition, Holmes has a “thick reference book” - an alphabetical index of all the detective’s cases. Apparently, this catalog also includes those cases that he had already investigated “under Watson”, but were not published for one reason or another. Watson mentions them from time to time in his short stories: “the case of Isador Persano and the rare worm” or the case of “the politician, the lighthouse and the trained cormorant,” as well as “the disgusting case of the red leech.” Cases from the pre-Watson era include The Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra, Vittoria, the Circus Prima, Gila, or the Poison Lizard; and in the tin box are stored, for example, “the incident with the Russian old woman”, “the strange story with the aluminum crutch” and, finally, “a full account of Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife).

The characteristic feature of these mysterious cases with deliberately catchy, downright tabloid headlines is that they are all “dummy”: there is no story behind them. These empty signifiers do not refer to any signified within the Conan Doyle canon: as Holmes notes, “the world is not yet ready to hear the story of the giant rat from Sumatra.”

Creators of Holmesian pastiches have always found a special attraction in “unpublished cases” - and scope for their own imagination (the “giant rat” is very popular). Moffat and Gatiss, who have already mentioned “dummy” cases in passing in previous episodes (for example, the case of the aluminum crutch in “A Scandal in Belgravia”; and in the episode dedicated to the wedding of John and Mary, Sherlock lists several such cases in his best man’s speech, among them is the one that can be identified as the case of “the rarest worm”), this time they are taking on the “terrible wife of Ricoletti.” Here is the first shift: “wife” is replaced by “bride,” which is hardly surprising, since this is a typical technique for the creators of “Sherlock,” who constantly change well-known titles (“A Study in Pink,” “The Empty Hearse,” etc. .) .

Butterfly Effect

The narration in “The Terrible Bride” is built in a typical way for screenwriters - on exposing the technique, sharpening the impression of construction, theatricality. The Victorian setting is not at all an attempt at a traditional film adaptation (with all the allusions to the famous Granada series with Jeremy Brett): the scriptwriters are not interested in the reality of London at the end of the 19th century, but in the reality of the text created by Conan Doyle, with all its plot tensions, grotesque details, logical failures, implausibility of descriptions, all kinds of gaps, holes, roughnesses. The characters in this episode fully feel like characters- no longer even puppets controlled by the author's will (or author's arbitrariness), but rather simply the effect of writing, sometimes outrageously careless.

“It’s all the illustrator’s fault! Because of him I had to let my mustache grow!” John and Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs). Still from the special series “Ugly Bride”, 2016.

Dr. Watson never tires of reminding Holmes that he is the hero he created and that all the pompous phrases uttered by Holmes were actually borrowed by the detective from the doctor’s writings. Watson himself, in turn, complains about the whims of the illustrator, because of whom he even had to grow a mustache for the public to recognize him; Moriarty sarcastically asks Holmes if he has to pose for the illustrator right during the next investigation. Mrs. Hudson is unhappy that in the doctor's stories she is only spilling tea. “But strictly speaking, this is your plot function», - Watson answers her, to which the venerable landlady reacts with a strike: she refuses to talk to visitors (“how could it be otherwise - I hardly speak at all!”). But when Holmes, trying to solve a complicated case, plunges into a two-day trance, she tells Lestrade that she “knocked herself off her feet serving tea to reporters.” “Why?” the inspector is perplexed. “I don’t know, it’s just what I usually do,” she answers thoughtfully, thereby proving her complete and final coincidence with the “plot function.”

In the Sherlock universe, Mycroft Holmes is slim, fit, concerned about diets and exercise, for which he is constantly ridiculed by his younger brother. In the Conan Doyle canon, Mycroft, unlike the thin Sherlock, is overweight and inactive: “A minute later we saw the tall, representative figure of Mycroft Holmes. Portly, even overweight, he seemed the embodiment of enormous potential physical strength.” ; “Mycroft Holmes was much taller and fatter than Sherlock.<…>“Nice to meet you, sir,” he said, extending a wide, thick hand that looked like a walrus flipper.” .

Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) in Sherlock's dream. Still from the special series “Ugly Bride”, 2016.

In “The Bride,” Mycroft’s obesity is brought to the point of grotesquery - he is openly, obscenely gluttonous, all the tables around him are filled with Rabelaisian dishes, the camera zooms in on a huge mouth into which the entire dish falls. In order to win a macabre bet from his younger brother - how many more years of life does Mycroft have left, he is ready to artificially shorten his days by non-stop devouring puddings; he never misses an opportunity to catch Sherlock's lack of observation, joyfully showing him new, microscopic signs of withering of his monstrous flesh. Mycroft speaks in riddles, words from the future (“virus in data”) slip into his speech, and he asks Sherlock strange questions. In a word, the figure of Mycroft, like the “plot function” of Mrs. Hudson, is a clear “seam” in this phantasmagoric narrative, a device of defamiliarization, evidence pointing to a barely disguised gap in the narrative fabric, a failure, a hole. “The Mustache Comes Unstuck” is a mustache imposed on Watson by an invisible illustrator, the alter ego of an invisible author.

Name: Mycroft Holmes
Nationality: English
Occupation: Politician

Brother of Sherlock Holmes, seven years older than him. Appears or is mentioned in 4 stories: "The Case of the Translator" (first appearance), "The Last Case of Sherlock Holmes", "The Empty House", "The Bruce-Partington Blueprints". Lives in an apartment on Pall Mall.
Portly, even overweight, he seemed the embodiment of enormous potential physical strength, but above this massive body towered a head with such a magnificent forehead of a thinker, with such penetrating, deep-set steel-colored eyes, with such a firmly defined mouth and such a subtle play of facial expression that you they immediately forgot about the clumsy body and clearly felt only the powerful intellect dominating it.
He occupies a significant post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although when Holmes did not know Watson well enough, he said that his brother “checks the financial statements of one ministry.” Sherlock, in the same story “The Bruce-Partington Drawings,” tells Watson about his brother:

He is in the service of the British government. And it is also true that he is sometimes the British government itself.<…>Mycroft receives £450 a year, occupies a subordinate position, has not the slightest ambition, refuses titles and titles, and yet is the most independent man in all of England<…>You see, he has a very special role, and he created it for himself<…>He is presented with the conclusions of all departments, he is the center, the clearinghouse where the overall balance is drawn up.<…>In his powerful brain, everything is sorted into shelves and can be presented at any time. More than once one of his words decided the issue of state policy - he lives in it, all his thoughts are absorbed in that alone.

Holmes also noted that Mycroft's specialty was "to know everything". Like Sherlock, Mycroft is brilliant at the “deductive method”, even significantly superior to his brother in his mastery, but does not use it as a working tool, here is what Sherlock says about this: “If the art of the detective began and ended with brooding in the quiet armchair, my brother Mycroft would be the greatest crime-solver in the world. But he has no ambition and no energy.". Mycroft is also one of the founding members of the Diogenes Club of Whitehall, which brings together the most unsociable people in London. He rarely communicates with Sherlock: in the story “The Bruce-Partington Drawings” Sherlock says that Mycroft only visited him once on Baker Street, and by that time the detective had been living there for more than 10 years. Mycroft calls Sherlock “my boy”, and the detective calls his brother “dear Mycroft”.

In the Soviet series directed by Igor Maslennikov, the role of Mycroft was played by Boris Klyuev. It is interesting that Klyuev is 9 years younger than Vasily Livanov, who played Sherlock Holmes. Mycroft will be played by Stephen Fry in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.