MAsters of the universe?
141
Holmes may have had a bohemian streak but was essentially carrying out
work which could be associated with the defense of London against foreign
invaders and the subjects of Empire, 33 here Moffatt and Gatiss put down a
marker to remind viewers that this Sherlock has an up-to-date ethical code.
In addition, bearing in mind Sherlock’s summary execution of Magnussen
at the end of the episode, it implies that Sherlock loathes Magnussen for
more noble reasons than simply wanting to protect his friends’ secrets.
Indeed, if we think back to series two, it is clear that Moriarty could not
have triggered his reputation-ruining campaign against Sherlock without
a compliant, sensationalist press. In that sense, series three reveals the
media magnate to be the power behind Moriarty’s destructive will; where
Moriarty was fired by a hot-blooded rivalry with Sherlock, the newspaper
boss seems only cold-heartedly interested in power. In the transition from
series two to series three, Sherlock moves from a personal to a structural
analysis of evil. 34
Kitty Reilly
Viewed from the perspective of the attack on media magnates in “His Last
Vow,” then, the final episode of series two, “The Reichenbach Fall,” can also be
read as an anti-newspaper story. It is through the tabloid press that Sherlock
unwillingly finds fame as the “Hat Detective,” photographed leaving Baker
Street wearing a hat as a disguise, which is then misinterpreted by the press
as a fashion choice and becomes his Sherlockian trademark. It is also through
the newspapers that Moriarty, baiting Sherlock via his sequence of outrageous
crimes committed to the strains of “The Thieving Magpie” at the start of
the episode, seeks to ruin Sherlock. Kitty Reilly (Katherine Parkinson), the
undercover reporter posing as a fan (wearing a deerstalker in apparent
tribute), turns on Sherlock when he rejects her approaches, and her newspaper
runs Moriarty’s false allegations of Sherlock being a fantasist and a fraud.
example, the “Google Glasses” confrontation can be read as a seduction scene over a romantic
dinner, with strong overtones of aggression. Such a reading also resonates with fan interest in
creating slash fiction encounters between Sherlock’s characters.
33 Michael Allen Gillespie and John Samuel Harpham, “Sherlock Holmes, Crime, and the
Anxieties of Globalization,” 449–474.
34 In series four, of course, Sherlock and Mycroft’s sister Eurus is revealed to be the ultimate
power shaping Sherlock’s adventures and adversaries, which might be read in turn as a return
to the personal, or even psychoanalytical, sphere where everything is explained by childhood
trauma.
141
Holmes may have had a bohemian streak but was essentially carrying out
work which could be associated with the defense of London against foreign
invaders and the subjects of Empire, 33 here Moffatt and Gatiss put down a
marker to remind viewers that this Sherlock has an up-to-date ethical code.
In addition, bearing in mind Sherlock’s summary execution of Magnussen
at the end of the episode, it implies that Sherlock loathes Magnussen for
more noble reasons than simply wanting to protect his friends’ secrets.
Indeed, if we think back to series two, it is clear that Moriarty could not
have triggered his reputation-ruining campaign against Sherlock without
a compliant, sensationalist press. In that sense, series three reveals the
media magnate to be the power behind Moriarty’s destructive will; where
Moriarty was fired by a hot-blooded rivalry with Sherlock, the newspaper
boss seems only cold-heartedly interested in power. In the transition from
series two to series three, Sherlock moves from a personal to a structural
analysis of evil. 34
Kitty Reilly
Viewed from the perspective of the attack on media magnates in “His Last
Vow,” then, the final episode of series two, “The Reichenbach Fall,” can also be
read as an anti-newspaper story. It is through the tabloid press that Sherlock
unwillingly finds fame as the “Hat Detective,” photographed leaving Baker
Street wearing a hat as a disguise, which is then misinterpreted by the press
as a fashion choice and becomes his Sherlockian trademark. It is also through
the newspapers that Moriarty, baiting Sherlock via his sequence of outrageous
crimes committed to the strains of “The Thieving Magpie” at the start of
the episode, seeks to ruin Sherlock. Kitty Reilly (Katherine Parkinson), the
undercover reporter posing as a fan (wearing a deerstalker in apparent
tribute), turns on Sherlock when he rejects her approaches, and her newspaper
runs Moriarty’s false allegations of Sherlock being a fantasist and a fraud.
example, the “Google Glasses” confrontation can be read as a seduction scene over a romantic
dinner, with strong overtones of aggression. Such a reading also resonates with fan interest in
creating slash fiction encounters between Sherlock’s characters.
33 Michael Allen Gillespie and John Samuel Harpham, “Sherlock Holmes, Crime, and the
Anxieties of Globalization,” 449–474.
34 In series four, of course, Sherlock and Mycroft’s sister Eurus is revealed to be the ultimate
power shaping Sherlock’s adventures and adversaries, which might be read in turn as a return
to the personal, or even psychoanalytical, sphere where everything is explained by childhood
trauma.